The importance of the Black Panther Party for the emancipation of Afro-Americans in the 1960/70ies

Seminar paper from the year 2007 in the subject American Studies - Culture and Applied Geography, grade: 1,3, University of Duisburg-Essen, course: A Survey of American History, 9 entries in the bibliography, language: English, abstract: America in the sixties was above all a time of protest in which the minorities including
Afro- Americans as well as women began to plead for equal rights. Many
organizations were founded during this time and every movement applied its own
methods in order to achieve its goal. The Black Panther Party was one of these
organizations which developed out of the Black Power Movement, a radicalised
development in the Civil Right Movement, which was until then famous to use nonviolent
methods of resistance in order to achieve their aims. This essay will deal with
the importance of the Black Panther Party for the emancipation of Afro-Americans
during the time of the Civil Rights Movement, which success the Party could achieve
to end the discrimination of blacks and which impact the party or their leaders still
might have today. In the first part the social situation of Afro-Americans in the sixties
will be described in detail and in which areas racism became obvious. Next there will
be a historical overview of main events during the Civil Right Movement and
especially of the different positions that began to develop within the movement. In
particular, the importance of Malcolm X for the Black Power will be mentioned. Black
Power is famous as a slogan and an idea but also resulted in a movement. The
second part of this essay will deal with the development of the Black Panther Party.
Here it is important to know from which social background the founders came from
and which kind of people they wanted to address with their ideology. Furthermore, I
will focus on the theories on which the ideologies and strategies of the Black Panther
Party are based on. While the second part concentrates mainly on the theory behind
the party's activities the third part gives an idea of their actions and campaigns and
as well as of important events that marked the history of the Party and demonstrated
the great impact of the Black Panther Party on Afro-Americans. The last chapter
describes the loss of the party's influence, their division and the dissolution of the
party in the beginning of the 1980ies. Finally, I will give a comment on the importance
and lasting impact of the Black Panther Party for the present situation of Afro-
Americans.

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