Liberation, Imagination and the Black Panther Party: A New Look at the Black Panthers and their Legacy

While the story of history may be most often defined through its winners, long forgotten, "defeated" movements and their ideals sometimes reemerge with renewed popularity, offering perhaps a better glimpse into society's future. So argues this unique collection, which gathers reflections by scholars and activists that reconsider the historical impact of the Black Panther Party (BPP)-the most significant revolutionary organization in the US in the later 20th century. Compared with more entrenched organizations like the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) or the NAACP, the 14-year existence of the Black Panther Party seems brief indeed. Yet the BBP gave organizational expression to a tendency in the revolutionary movement that long predated it-the idea that the entire system is corrupt and needs to be reconstructed. Dozens of groups dedicated to revolutionary change appeared in the US in the 1960s, but only the BPP was able to develop a mass following and appeal to a broad constituency. These articles offera fresh and realistic recounting of the Party's tumultuous history and its reverberations through modern politics, including Chicano movements, international labor movements, and the campaign to free Mumia Abu Jumal. Counterbalancing hypercritical attacks and fawning glorifications, this anthology offers a more reasoned perspective and features previously silenced voices.