About Organizations
Black Panther Party
Black Liberation Army
American Indian Movement
FALN
Weather Underground
Earth Liberation Front
Animal Liberation Front
MOVE
Republic of New Afrika
Symbionese Liberation Army
Los Macheteros
United Freedom Front
May 19th Communist Organization
Young Lords
George Jackson Brigade
Students for a Democratic Society
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Industrial Workers of the World
Communist Party USA
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Brown Berets
Socialist Workers Party
African People's Socialist Party
Nation of Islam
About Black Panther Party
Founding of the Black Panther Party
Police Patrols in Oakland
Sacramento Capitol Protest
Huey Newton Arrest & the "Free Huey" Campaign
Killing of Bobby Hutton
Free Breakfast for Children Program
Bunchy Carter & John Huggins Killings
Panther 21 Arrests & Trial
New Haven Panther Trials
Fred Hampton & Mark Clark Raid
Oakland Community School
Elaine Brown Leadership Period
Decline & Dissolution
ELAINE BROWN LEADERSHIP PERIOD
From 1974 to 1977, Elaine Brown led the Black Panther Party as its chair while Huey Newton was in exile in Cuba facing criminal charges. The only woman ever to head the party, Brown steered it further toward electoral politics and community programs, mobilizing the Panthers' organization behind local Oakland campaigns and social services.
Under Brown the party played a significant role in Oakland politics, helping elect the city's first Black mayor, Lionel Wilson, in 1977. But she also confronted deep sexism within the organization, and after Newton returned from exile she left the party, later describing the internal violence and misogyny that had set in during its decline.