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Black liberation · Since 1966

THE BLACK
PANTHER
PARTY.

A movement for self-determination.
A history that reaches beyond the headlines.

Explore the history Meet the people
Seattle Black Panther Party members stand on the steps of the Washington State Capitol in Olympia, February 28, 1969.
Olympia, Washington · 28 February 1969Photo credit ↗

01 / The movement

Self-defense.
Community.
Political power.

Founded in Oakland in October 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, the Black Panther Party organized against police brutality and for Black self-determination. Its politics connected struggles in the United States with liberation movements abroad. [UW]

Members built programs for food, health care, education and legal support. Women sustained much of this daily organizing and held leadership positions, while also confronting inequality within the Party. [Smithsonian]

This NPPC history connects places, organizing and repression with the lives recorded in our prisoner database. Explore the sources alongside the stories.

02 / Across the country & beyond

A national movement.
Local histories.

Explore 88 documented locations: chapters, branches and affiliated organizing centers, plus the International Section in Algiers.

New York · Chapter

Albany

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Algeria · International Section

Algiers

The Party’s International Section operated in Algiers. This is part of the original Party’s organization.

Louisiana · Prison chapter

Angola

Herman Wallace describes the Angola prison chapter and the Oakland Central Committee’s approval of its formation. Its organizing addressed prison conditions and political education.

Georgia · Chapter / branch

Atlanta

Founding member Elbert “Big Man” Howard names this community in his account of the Party’s expansion.

New Jersey · Affiliated organizing center

Atlantic City

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

California · Chapter

Bakersfield

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Maryland · Chapter

Baltimore

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

California · Affiliated organizing center

Berkeley

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Massachusetts · Chapter

Boston

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Connecticut · Affiliated organizing center

Bridgeport

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

New York · Affiliated organizing center

Buffalo

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Massachusetts · Affiliated organizing center

Cambridge

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Illinois · Affiliated organizing center

Carbondale

The Illinois chapter’s historical preservation society documents a National Committee to Combat Fascism office in Carbondale.

South Carolina · NCCF organizing center

Charleston

A November 1970 memorandum documents a local National Committee to Combat Fascism in Charleston. This marker identifies the affiliated center, not a separately verified chapter charter.

Tennessee · Chapter / branch

Chattanooga

Founding member Elbert “Big Man” Howard names this community in his account of the Party’s expansion.

Illinois · Chapter

Chicago

Coalitions across communities

The Illinois Panthers built multiracial alliances through the Rainbow Coalition and organized food and health programs.

Read the city history ↗

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Fred Hampton

Ohio · Affiliated organizing center

Cincinnati

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Mississippi · Affiliated organizing center

Cleveland

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Ohio · Affiliated organizing center

Cleveland

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Ohio · Chapter

Columbus

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

California · Affiliated organizing center

Compton

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Texas · Affiliated organizing center

Dallas

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Ohio · Affiliated organizing center

Dayton

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Colorado · Chapter

Denver

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

Iowa · Chapter

Des Moines

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Michigan · Chapter

Detroit

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

Delaware · Affiliated organizing center

Dover

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

California · Branch

East Palo Alto

The East Palo Alto Community Archive preserves a Party newspaper report of the branch’s opening with a Community Survival Day on September 9, 1972.

Illinois · Branch

East St. Louis

The Illinois Chapter Historical Preservation Society identifies an East St. Louis branch headquarters.

Oregon · Branch

Eugene

The Seattle chapter’s interpretive center identifies this location in its account of the regional organization.

Michigan · Affiliated organizing center

Flint

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

California · Chapter

Fresno

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Pennsylvania · Affiliated organizing center

Harrisburg

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Connecticut · Affiliated organizing center

Hartford

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Illinois · West Suburban Branch locality

Harvey

Harvey is one of the West Suburban Branch’s documented organizing localities, not a separately claimed chapter.

North Carolina · Affiliated organizing center

High Point

The Winston-Salem organization established a satellite community information center in High Point.

Texas · Chapter / earlier Party office

Houston

The 1971 directory preserves a Houston Party office listed in 1969. Claude Frost’s oral history also documents the later incorporation of People’s Party II into the Black Panther Party; these were successive phases of local organizing.

Indiana · Chapter

Indianapolis

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

New Jersey · Chapter

Jersey City

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

Missouri · Chapter

Kansas City

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

California · Chapter

Los Angeles

Organizing under pressure

Breakfast and medical programs developed alongside organizing repeatedly disrupted by police raids and conflict.

Read the city history ↗

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Elmer Geronimo Pratt

Kentucky · Kentucky State Chapter

Louisville

Right On! reports Kentucky State Chapter work in Louisville in late 1972. Historical research distinguishes this organization from an unsuccessful 1969 attempt.

California · Chapter / branch

Marin City

Founding member Elbert “Big Man” Howard names this community in his account of the Party’s expansion.

Illinois · West Suburban Branch locality

Maywood

Maywood is a documented locality of the Illinois West Suburban Branch.

Tennessee · Affiliated organizing center

Memphis

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Wisconsin · Affiliated organizing center

Milwaukee

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Minnesota · Chapter

Minneapolis

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

New York · Affiliated organizing center

Mount Vernon

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Tennessee · Chapter / branch

Nashville

Founding member Elbert “Big Man” Howard names this community in his account of the Party’s expansion.

Massachusetts · Affiliated organizing center

New Bedford

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

New Jersey · Affiliated organizing center

New Brunswick

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Connecticut · Chapter

New Haven

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Louisiana · Affiliated organizing center

New Orleans

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

New York · Chapter

New York

Neighborhoods and defense campaigns

Harlem anchored a network of neighborhood offices. Defense of the Panther 21 became a major organizing focus.

Read the city history ↗

The directory records the New York chapter and organizing in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Corona, Harlem, Jamaica and Washington Heights.

Afeni Shakur

New Jersey · Chapter

Newark

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Virginia · State chapter organizing

Norfolk

Right On! identifies Virginia State Chapter officer Earl Harrell organizing with workers in Norfolk in 1972. This documents state chapter activity here without establishing a separate Norfolk charter.

Connecticut · Chapter

Norwalk

Steve Thornton’s history of Connecticut Panther organizing names a Norwalk chapter among those established by 1969.

California · National headquarters

Oakland

Where the Party began

Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Party here in October 1966. Oakland became its national center.

Read the city history ↗

Oakland was the Party’s founding city and national headquarters.

Huey P. Newton Bobby Seale Ericka Huggins Kathleen Cleaver

Nebraska · Chapter

Omaha

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

New Jersey · Local Panther organizing group

Paterson

A 1971 study describes Panthers from Paterson helping organize in Plainfield in summer 1968. The Paterson Museum also records a local Party fundraiser and chapter recruitment that year. These sources support an active organizing presence; a formal chapter charter and its date remain unverified.

New York · Chapter

Peekskill

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Illinois · Chapter

Peoria

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Pennsylvania · Chapter

Philadelphia

Political education in practice

The local organization provided food, clothing, a clinic, political classes and a library of Black authors.

Read the city history ↗

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Pennsylvania · Affiliated organizing center

Pittsburgh

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Oregon · Affiliated organizing center

Portland

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

California · Chapter

Richmond

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Virginia · Community information center

Richmond

VCU’s November 1970 film archive documents the Richmond Panther information center at 8 East Baker Street. This is Richmond, Virginia, separate from the California branch.

California · Affiliated organizing center

Riverside

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Illinois · Chapter

Rockford

The 1971 directory lists a chapter; the Illinois historical society also documents a branch headquarters.

California · Chapter

Sacramento

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

California · Chapter

San Diego

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

California · Branch

San Francisco

A local branch is documented in the cited historical source.

California · Branch

San Jose

The August 9, 1969 Party newspaper describes the San Jose Branch’s Liberation School, including its move to Our Lady of Guadalupe Church.

California · Prison chapter / branch

San Quentin

An organization inside the prison is documented here. This marker locates the community, not the prison building.

California · Chapter

Santa Ana

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Washington · Chapter

Seattle

A lasting community presence

The Seattle chapter combined police accountability work with health care, meals and youth education.

Read the city history ↗

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

Aaron Dixon

California · Underground prison chapter

Soledad

Historian Zoe Colley identifies an underground Panther chapter formed at Soledad by George Jackson and W. L. Nolen in late 1969. This marker locates the community, not the prison building; the source does not supply an exact founding date.

Connecticut · Chapter

Stamford

Steve Thornton’s history of Connecticut Panther organizing names a Stamford chapter among those established by 1969.

Illinois · West Suburban Branch locality

Summit

The Illinois chapter archive lists Summit and Argo among West Suburban Branch localities. Argo is grouped under Summit on this city-level map.

Washington · Branch

Tacoma

The Seattle chapter’s interpretive center identifies this location in its account of the regional organization.

Florida · NCCF organizing center

Tampa

A December 1970 memorandum records the Tampa NCCF’s recently opened headquarters at 2918–29th Street. Its organizing center is distinguished from a formal chapter.

Ohio · Affiliated organizing center

Toledo

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Oklahoma · Affiliated organizing center

Tulsa

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

California · Chapter

Vallejo

A chapter is recorded in the historical affiliate directory.

Washington · Prison chapter / branch

Walla Walla

The Seattle chapter’s interpretive center identifies this location in its account of the regional organization.

District of Columbia · Chapter

Washington, D.C.

The directory records both chapter and NCCF activity here at different times. The label describes a historical presence, not uninterrupted chapter status.

Connecticut · Chapter

Waterbury

Connecticut Humanities and Steve Thornton’s local history both identify the Waterbury chapter.

North Carolina · Affiliated organizing center

Winston-Salem

An NCCF or community information center is documented here. These affiliated groups did not always have formal chapter status.

Browse all 88 locations
What the map includes & how to read it

Historical chapters, branches, Party offices, prison organizations and affiliated organizing centers, including local National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF) groups. Includes every city/locality in the cited 1971 directory, supplemented by Party newspapers, participant accounts and local archives. Some later records concern the Eastern wing after the 1971 split. Neighborhood entries share their city marker; a branch active in several municipalities can have several location markers.

These locations span different years; they were not necessarily active at the same time. A marker does not always mean a formally chartered chapter. Each location identifies the organization described by its source. The historical directory is partial, so this is a documented map that can grow as further locations are verified.

The 1971 government directory combines Party newspaper lists with police reports. We use its location table and contemporary memoranda alongside Party newspapers, participant accounts and local archives to identify places. Government sources’ political characterizations are not adopted here.

Modern approximate place coordinates, not historical street addresses. San Quentin, Algiers and Angola use GeoNames locality coordinates (Angola via Mapcarta). Coordinates: U.S. Census Bureau and GeoNames (CC BY 4.0).

Follow the turning points

Selected milestones, 1966–1981. Dates retain the precision of the cited sources.

13 milestones

October 1966

Oakland & the Bay Area Organizing

The Party is founded

Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale establish the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Oakland.

Source ↗
May 1967

Oakland & the Bay Area Organizing

A protest reaches Sacramento

Bobby Seale leads Panthers to the California State Capitol to oppose proposed restrictions on carrying loaded firearms.

Source ↗
1968

Los Angeles Organizing

A growing Los Angeles organization

The Los Angeles organization gains hundreds of recruits under new leadership.

Source ↗
1968

Philadelphia Organizing

A chapter takes shape in Philadelphia

The Philadelphia chapter forms and soon adds a second office.

Source ↗
November 1968

Chicago Organizing

Fred Hampton joins the Illinois Panthers

Hampton brings experience in youth organizing and soon becomes deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter.

Source ↗
28 February 1969

Seattle Organizing

Seattle Panthers demonstrate in Olympia

Members appear at the Washington State Capitol during a dispute over firearms restrictions—the moment pictured above.

Source ↗
1969

New York State repression

The Panther 21 prosecution

An alleged bombing conspiracy prosecution makes prisoner defense a focus of New York organizing.

Source ↗
4 December 1969

Chicago State repression

Fred Hampton and Mark Clark are killed

Police kill Hampton and Clark in a raid. National Archives records document FBI infiltration and the subsequent civil-rights case.

Source ↗
By 1970

Seattle Community programs

Seattle expands community services

Seattle Panthers operate a community medical clinic alongside food and youth programs.

Source ↗
1971

Oakland & the Bay Area Community programs

The Intercommunal Youth Institute opens

The educational project that later becomes the Oakland Community School opens, connecting learning, child care and community life.

Source ↗
1971

New York Organizing

An East Coast split

New York breaks with Oakland and begins publishing Right On.

Source ↗
1973–1981

Oakland & the Bay Area Community programs

Ericka Huggins directs the Oakland Community School

Huggins leads the school through years of teaching, care and community-centered education.

Source ↗
Late 1970s

Seattle Community programs

Programs outlast the chapter

Seattle’s community programs continue beyond the chapter.

Source ↗

This is a curated introduction. For a larger newspaper-based event dataset, explore the University of Washington’s research ↗. Its authors explain that news coverage favors dramatic incidents and can underrepresent everyday organizing.

03 / Serve the people

Freedom also meant
breakfast. Care. School.

Survival programs met immediate needs while making a political argument about what communities should be able to expect.

01

Food & daily support

Breakfast for children, groceries, clothing and transportation connected political organizing with the daily needs of families and elders.

Smithsonian ↗
02

Community health

Free clinics and sickle-cell testing helped make health care part of the Party’s community work.

Smithsonian ↗
03

Education & child care

The Oakland Community School connected academic learning with meals, creativity and care. Ericka Huggins’s oral history describes a school organized around children’s needs.

Read the oral history ↗

04 / The state’s response

Surveillance.
Raids. Imprisonment.

FBI surveillance and counterintelligence records form part of the Party’s history. The National Archives brings together files on COINTELPRO, civil-rights litigation and the killings of Party members. [National Archives]

The December 1969 killing of Fred Hampton and Mark Clark in Chicago is one documented example. Records describe an FBI informant’s role and a police raid that also led to charges against surviving Panthers; those charges were later dropped. [Hampton records]

Party members also confronted internal conflict. Huggins’s testimony describes both the school’s achievements and abuses of leadership. Reading participant accounts alongside government files makes space for this difficult history. [Oral history]

Explore Panther prisoner records →

05 / What the Party demanded

The Ten-Point Program.

A reading guide to the 1966 platform. These summaries are paraphrases; read the historical text ↗.

01Community self-determination

Black communities should control their own political future.

02Work and income

Employment or guaranteed income should make a decent livelihood possible.

03An end to exploitation

The platform challenges capitalist extraction and demands restitution for historical theft.

04Housing with dignity

Safe housing should meet human needs, with cooperative ownership proposed as a remedy.

05Education and history

Education should teach Black history and equip people to understand their position in society.

06Opposition to conscription

Black men should not be compelled to fight for a government that denies their rights.

07Safety from police violence

Communities should be protected from police brutality and killings.

08Freedom for imprisoned Black people

The Party demands release, arguing that Black prisoners have been denied fair trials.

09Juries from the community

Defendants should be judged by peers who understand their communities and circumstances.

10The material conditions of freedom

Basic necessities, justice and peace belong together in the Party’s vision of liberation.

06 / People, not just names

Follow the individual story.

Selected people with records in the NPPC database. Open a profile for its biography, sources and case history.

Huey P. Newton

View profile & case history ↗

Bobby Seale

View profile & case history ↗

Fred Hampton

View profile & case history ↗

Ericka Huggins

View profile & case history ↗

Afeni Shakur

View profile & case history ↗

Kathleen Cleaver

View profile & case history ↗

Aaron Dixon

View profile & case history ↗

Elmer Geronimo Pratt

View profile & case history ↗

Mumia Abu-Jamal

View profile & case history ↗
Browse Panther records

07 / Read further

History you can trace.

Inspired by the University of Washington’s Mapping American Social Movements project. This page uses original NPPC summaries and a sourced location directory; the linked archives provide the underlying research and firsthand accounts.

  1. University of Washington · History and geography
  2. Arianne Hermida / University of Washington · Key cities
  3. University of Washington · Events research, 1967–1979
  4. Smithsonian NMAAHC · Community programs and social change
  5. Black Panther Party · 1966 Ten-Point Program (transcription)
  6. National Archives · Fred Hampton
  7. National Archives · Black Panther Party records
  8. UC Berkeley · Ericka Huggins oral history
  9. Library of Congress · Ericka Huggins oral history, 2016
  10. Kurt Schaefer / University of Washington · Seattle Panthers

Header photograph: Seattle Panthers at the Washington State Capitol, 28 February 1969. Washington State Archives, State Governors’ Negative Collection; shared by CIR Online. Source · CC BY 2.0. Photograph cropped for display.