Black Panthers Make History

By George Barber and Lavar Streater. Drawings by Jevar Harper.

JUNE 7, 2016: During the 2016 halftime of Super Bowl 50, Beyonce did a tribute to the Black Panther Party by wearing all black and having all black women dance wearing afros and berets on their heads. There was a lot of hate towards Beyonce. People were saying it was outrageous to do it at the Super Bowl. They hated her because she had bullets on her jacket, but the truth was her dancers made the shape of a X because they were honoring Malcolm X.

The Black Panther Party was founded by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. It started in 1966. The party was formed to protect local communities from police brutality and racism. They also started the serving of breakfast for poor black children in schools. They helped some black people to get good jobs.The Black Panther Party started a free health clinic for people who got sick.

The Black Panther Party had a lot of talented members. The group had artists, cartoonists, music producers and many more. Some people in the group also wrote books that talked about what they did and what they had to go through from 1966 to 1982.

They made money by selling newspapers. They wanted full employment for all of the black people.They wanted decent housing...the same as white people . They wanted fair education for all black people. They wanted to stop police from murdering and killing black people. They wanted freedom for all of the black people. They wanted land, bread, clothing, justice and peace.

The Black Panther Party watched the police to see if they were following the rules and were not killing black people. The Black Panthers moved into houses together and called the houses “panther pads”. When Martin Luther King Jr. died,  it hurt the Black Panthers very badly. Huey Newton went to jail because news people said he killed a policeman. When Huey Newton got out of jail, he was addicted to drugs because the prison guards gave him drugs while he was in jail. When he got out of jail. Huey P. Newton died in a drug shootout because he was addicted to drugs. ”The Black Panther Party was not going to last,” said Huey P Newton.The Black Panther Party started to split and ended in 1982.  

George Barber, Lavar Streater and Jevar Harper are 6th grade scholars at Friendship Blow Pierce Academy.