Celebrations begin to mark Black Panther Party’s 60th anniversary of its founding in Oakland
By CBS Bay Area
Events began in Oakland on Thursday to mark 60 years since the founding of the Black Panther Party.
Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton founded the group in 1966 during the civil rights movement to fight police brutality. Members carried guns while monitoring police encounters with Black residents. Some were also involved in deadly shootouts with police.
The Black Panther Party launched a legacy of Black activism across the U.S. Aside from fighting social injustice, it also opened health clinics and started free breakfast programs for children.
“We sought to meet the basic needs of the Black community, not only the Black, but all oppressed communities,” Newton’s widow Fredrika Newton told The Associated Press earlier this week. “Children were going to school hungry. People couldn’t get medical care. People were sleeping in the streets, just like today.”
Events marking the Black Panther Party’s 60th anniversary in Oakland include a panel discussion and film screening Thursday at the Oakland Main Library, then a night market at Oaktown Thursdays. Friday there will be workshops at venues along Broadway during the day, along with gatherings at the Black Panther Party Museum followed by a celebration at the Oakland Museum of California.
On Saturday, there will be an honorary renaming of three blocks of Broadway as Black Panther Party Boulevard, a designation voted unanimously by the Oakland City Council last month. There will be additional workshops, a screening of the 2001 film A Huey P. Newton Story, and a gala event at the Oakland Scottish Rite Center, with surviving original members of the Black Panther Party expected to attend.
On Sunday, organizers will hold a community day at Bobby Hutton Park in West Oakland.
