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Explore media stories on the Seattle Chapter and the 50th Anniversary

What lessons for a new generation
June 01, 2018
By MEGAN CORNISH JUNE 2018
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense exploded on the U.S. scene in Oakland, California, in 1966, in the midst of a long social upsurge sparked by the southern Civil Rights movement and stoked by massive opposition to the Vietnam war. Armed Panthers patrolled Black neighborhoods to defend them against cops and took guns to the state capital to oppose a gun control bill targeting them...

Black Panther Party Celebrates 50 years in Seattle
May 07, 2018
Posted on May 7, 2018 by Susan Fried
Seattle’s Black Panther Party celebrated the 5oth anniversary with a weekend of forums on topics important to the black community.
The Seattle Black Panther coalition was founded in 1968 and was the first chapter established outside of the Oakland chapter.

Founder of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party speaks to students
May 04, 2018
Niko Newbould, Staff Reporter
May 4, 2018
History teachers brought their classes up to the library on April 26 for a special presentation with Elmer Dixon, the founder of the Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party. Students sat in chairs unaware of the inspiring messages to come.

Reliving the Seattle Black Panther Party's 50th Anniversary
May 02, 2018
The Seattle Chapter of the Black Panther Party celebrated its 50th Anniversary with a three-day conference April 26-28 and an Art and Fashion Exhibition on the 29th. The conference featured talks and presentations by former Black Panthers from around the country including Ericka Huggins, Emory Douglas, and Elaine Brown...

A runway tribute to the Black Panther Party and Wakanda
May 01, 2018
by Amber Cortes
A young man stands on the edge of the runway, his beret, tipped perfectly to the side, emanates Black beauty, pride and power. He raises his fist to the air.
“All power to the people!” The audience claps as someone shouts the Black Panther Party slogan.
“C’mon, soldier!” Another yells.
“You lead, I will follow!” another woman emphatically adds.
The challenge, set forth to three local fashion designers was this: Combine inspiration from the legacy of the Seattle Black Panther Party, which celebrated its 50th anniversary over the weekend, with the cultural phenomenon that is the comic book action film “Black Panther.”

As the Seattle Black Panther Party marks it's 50th Anniversary, it's disruptive force lives on
April 25, 2018
Whether the weapons used are ideas or artillery, revolutions will always be soul-cripplingly brutal. Complexity and commotion are their base ingredients—neither of which is surprising considering revolutions are a result of a faction with an idea of “what society ought to be” furiously raging against the established “what society is.”
50 years later: Why Seattle created its own Black Panther Party
April 25, 2018
POSTED ON APRIL 25, 2018 AT 4:13 PM.
WRITTEN BY ANA SOFIA KNAUF
Aaron Dixon remembers when segregation was widespread in Seattle. He grew up in Madrona, which, like the Central District, was once a predominantly Black neighborhood.
“It was really great in terms of the community that we had [with how] people looked out for each other,” he said. “But once you went outside of the community then you had to deal with the racism. [You] had to deal with finding jobs and having doors closed on you.”

Black Panther Party’s legacy to help sick, poor lives on at Seattle health clinic
April 24, 2018
By
Seattle Times staff reporter
Sandra Keller has been coming to the Carolyn Downs Family Medical Center for three decades.
The 58-year-old Seattle resident said she trusts the physicians and staff at the clinic, where her two children and 10 grandkids also receive care.

Black carpet rollout for Black Panther
February 13, 2018
by Marcus Harrison Green
Pandemic anticipation for Marvel Studio’s Black Panther movie has stoked euphoria in school children, heavyweight think pieces from the New York Times, and the rolling out of black carpet in South Seattle. Proceeds from the event will go, fittingly, to a fund for the Seattle Black Panther Party’s 50th-anniversary celebration, which will take place in late April.

UPS observes Black History Month with treasures from Black Panther Party archive
February 08, 2018
By Dave Davison
In celebration of Black History Month, the University of Puget Sound’s Collins Memorial Library is presenting an exhibit about the Black Panther Party, which were active in the 1960s and 70s. The Puget Sound region had a particularly active branch of the party. The exhibit is called “Louder Than Words: A Portrait of the Black Panther Movement.” It is a collection of Black Panther Party newspapers, posters, flyers, pamphlets, photographs, political pins and other materials that were gleaned from the personal archive of Bill Jennings, who joined the Black Panther Party in Oakland in 1968, soon after the party began.

In defense of call out culture
February 01, 2018
by Shaun Scott
A bevy of writers in popular publications took to the internet last week to decry “call-out culture”—a catch-all phrase that refers to the extremely online practice of denouncing racist, sexist or otherwise problematic statements on the internet itself. On the surface, the essays describe ways that the dynamics of online discourse ingratiate insiders and alienate villains. In reality, these writings reflect the ways people with social privilege behave in activist spaces—online and off, past as well as present. But first, a primer:

Franklin students plan mural honoring Seattle Chapter of the Black Panthers
January 23, 2018
by Susan Fried
About two-dozen people gathered in the Franklin High School commons on Friday, January 19 to help design a mural commemorating the 50th Anniversary of the forming of the Seattle Chapter of the Black Panthers (SCBPP).