By Tia DeRuiter
With the advent of Black History Month comes an amplification of influential Black voices that have often been disregarded. Though frequently, many of these acknowledgments have ignored Black women and their unique experiences, that have been the backbone in many important movements and moments. As such, it is vital to recognize these women and their contributions to history in the struggle against oppression.
Like many other Black power organizations in the 1960s, the Black Panther Party (BPP) was a collective foregrounded in the fight for freedom from suppression and was both founded by and centered around male voices. However, many of the members of the BPP were Black women and undertook much of the administrative and day-to-day duties of the organization. Allowing the BPP to reach a high prevalence and establish programs that likely would not have been possible without the commitment of these women. As many of their names remain unknown, this article will explore the contributions of three prominent women in the BPP - Ericka Huggins, Katherine Neal Cleaver, and Elaine Brown - while recognizing the work all of these women took on and remain unacknowledged for.
Ericka Huggins
Joining the BPP in 1968 with her friend, and later her husband, John, Huggins was a powerful voice in the early organization of the Panthers and a leader within their Los Angeles chapter. Fulfilling a long-time goal of Huggins, her entrance into the BPP marked the beginning of the social justice work she left university for, and what she had aspired to be a part of since she was 13. However, after her arrival to Los Angeles and the birth of her daughter shortly after, John Huggins was killed by police with another BPP member, Butchy Carter. Devastated, Huggins had to decide where her place in the BPP lay without her husband and as a single mother. Eventually, she left the West Coast to return to New Haven, Connecticut, where her late husband was from and where his family continued to reside. With her arrival came the extension of an invitation from a BPP leader Bobby Seale, to lead a chapter of the party in New Haven alongside another powerful woman in the party, Elaine Brown. Though her time of leadership was short-lived, Huggins was quickly arrested alongside Seale and held in prison for two years awaiting charges. While the charges were later dropped for both Huggins and Seale, they persisted with their party work and the struggle for freedom from white supremacy and its oppression.
Though not resuming leadership in a chapter, Huggins contributed to the Black Panther Intercommunal News Service, directed the Oakland Community School, and volunteered extensively in order to disseminate the knowledge underlying the BPP’s struggle. Starting in 2003, Huggins began teaching courses in a variety of disciplines at many universities and has since then become a member of the World Trust - an organization seeking to advance social justice and racial justice through educational initiatives. Through her 14 years with the Panthers, Huggins made many important contributions and sacrifices and paved the way for the many women within the party that followed her and led with her (). While ultimately parting with the BPP in 1972, Huggins left behind a collective that held power within Black communities and the greater American society. An influence that lay within the hands and determination of Black women, who made up a majority of BPP members in the 1970s.
Katherine Neal
Cleaver Spending her early years organizing with the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), Cleaver has focused much of her life on struggling for change. Joining the BPP in 1966, Cleaver brought her experience working with the SNCC to this party, fighting for, and winning Huey Newton’s release after a San Francisco murder indictment. Afterward, she was promoted up through the collective quickly, taking on the role of Communications Secretary, where Cleaver arranged the public actions of the BPP. From setting up press conferences and interviews and protesting events, Cleaver organized all the
While Cleaver left the U.S. shortly after her husband, fellow BPP member Eldridge Cleaver was arrested on charges of attempted murder following a long-standing contention with police. Fleeing to Algeria in 1969, Cleaver remained within the country for twelve years and returned to the U.S. while divorcing her now ex-husband. Deciding to go back to school, Cleaver was accepted into Yale University in 1981, where she completed her Bachelor's degree and later a degree in jurisprudence. Since then, Cleaver has worked in law, and taught the subject at many universities in the U.S. Though no longer involved in the BPP, Cleaver’s work as Communications Secretary helped to publicize the message of the BPP, allowing them to reach a larger audience, and establish many of their respected initiatives.
Elaine Brown
Though Brown was not initially interested in joining the BPP, she soon found herself being drawn into their collectivizing. After moving to Los Angeles to pursue her dreams of being a musician, Brown agreed to teach music lessons to young Black girls, where she was inspired to begin her journey fighting for the Black community. While Brown did not join the BPP right away, she spent a year learning from Black organizations and movements and educating herself in her free time. With the unrest that exploded after the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in 1968, Brown found herself drawn towards and joining the BPP and their mission.
Immersing herself within the Party, Brown spent her time organizing and writing articles for the BPP’s newspaper, which later transformed into a role as the editor of this publication. Brown continued her musical journey, writing songs and recording albums imbricated with the Party’s message of Black liberation. Broadening her leadership roles outside the Party itself, Brown also ran for Oakland City Council, though was unsuccessful in her endeavor. Rising to prominence and awarded with the respect of leader Huey Newton, when Newton left the U.S. to avoid prison time in 1974, Brown was invited to take on the role of the BPP’s leader. Though not well received by many male members of the BPP, according to Brown, she took on the role and led with grace - keeping up their many community-based programmes. Following Newton’s return to the U.S. in 1977, Brown left the party after taking issue with their values and the gender-based discrimination and violence faced by the women of the BPP.
In the years that followed, Brown continued her fight against oppression and the white colonial settler-state that is the U.S.. She is now working towards developing a building that will be home to affordable housing for the Black community, and feature retail spaces for Black-owned businesses.
Huggins, Cleaver, and Brown, though often forgotten within public discourses surrounding the BPP, have ultimately made large contributions and held up the Party and its initiatives. In conjunction with the many other women of the BPP, it is evident that without their help, the BPP would not have risen to the prominence it held in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Nor would it have been able to maintain its many vital programmes - such as the free breakfast and legal aid clinics that were run. In an androcentric world, and in a month intended to highlight oppressed voices, it is necessary to recognize these women and the imperative work they have done throughout their lifetimes.
Sources
https://www.essence.com/holidays/black-history-month/women-black-panther-party/#77118
http://www.theheroinecollective.com/kathleen-neal-cleaver-black-power-black-panthers/
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/mar/27/activist-elaine-brown-you-must-be-willingto-die-for-what-you-believe-in
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/09/i-have-all-the-guns-and-mo ney-when-a-woman-led-the-black-panther-party/
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/retropolis/wp/2018/01/09/i-have-all-the-guns-and-mo ney-when-a-woman-led-the-black-panther-party/
https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2022/sep/04/sisters-revolution-women-of-black-p anther-party https://www.erickahuggins.com/bio https://www.world-trust.org/abou