The Illinois Black Panther Party and its leadership, experienced in organizing and civil rights, based their strategy on cooperation with other local groups. The two merged after national headquarters granted the South Side branch an official charter, then expanded from 40 members to over 300 within a few months. In 1968, two independent groups in Chicago began unofficial chapters of the Black Panther Party, one on the West Side and the other on the South Side. Although under constant pressure from the police and FBI, the new organization carried on, finally closing its office in 1981. Disagreements with the national office over support for imprisoned members and other issues came to a head in 1971 when the New York Panther organization broke with Oakland and established a new East Coast Black Panther Party with its own newspaper, Right On. The New York BPP chapter was particularly active in organizing public demonstrations beginning with Free Huey rallies and then turning to the defense of 21 New York Panthers who were indicted in 1969 on charges related to an alleged bomb plot of department stores, a streetcar, and a police station. The BPP created an array of social programs including a free community health center, two free breakfast programs, and the Black Panther Athletic Club, a youth group. Vernon, Corona-East Elmhurst, Staten Island and Jamaica. With the Harlem unit serving as headquarters, branch offices were established in Brooklyn, the Bronx, Mt. Expanding quickly, the chapter issued a regular bulletin called the People's Community News. The Harlem chapter may have been the first unit of the Black Panther Party organized outside of the Bay Area. Oakland - San Francisco - Berkeley- Richmond New York Arianne Hermida researched and coordinates this section. The maps show BPP offices, facilities, and the location of key events, combining historic images when we have them with google street views of the locations today. In the maps that follow we track the geography of the BPP in the six metropolitan areas where the Panthers enrolled the most members and made the greatest impact: Oakland-SF Bay Area New York Chicago Los Angeles Seattle Philadelphia. While BPP adherents could be found in cities and towns across the country, officially the Party chartered thirteen chapters. Faced with this unauthorized expansion, in spring 1968 the Oakland organization began officially chartering chapters, requiring allegiance to BPP principles and centralizing authority. With membership surging in the Bay Area, self proclaimed Panther units were established in many other locations. In May 1967, the organization gained world-wide media attention when Seale led a contingent of heavily-armed Panthers into the California state capitol building in Sacramento to demonstrate their opposition to a proposed law that would restrict the right to carry loaded weapons on city streets. Dedicated to revolutionary internationalism and armed self-defense of Black communities, the Panthers initially operated in Oakland and Berkeley then in San Francisco and Richmond. Members of the Seattle chapter stage protest at the Washington State capitol in Olympia, Febru(photo: Washington State Archives)The Black Panther Party for Self Defense was founded in October 1966 by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale who had met at Merritt College in Oakland, California. Mapping the Black Panther Party in Key Cities by Arianne Hermida
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