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Summary
Summary
A National Book Award Finalist
A Coretta Scott King Author Award Honor Book
A Michael L. Printz Honor Book
A Walter Dean Myers Honor Book
With passion and precision, Kekla Magoon relays an essential account of the Black Panthers--as militant revolutionaries and as human rights advocates working to defend and protect their community.
In this comprehensive, inspiring, and all-too-relevant history of the Black Panther Party, Kekla Magoon introduces readers to the Panthers' community activism, grounded in the concept of self-defense, which taught Black Americans how to protect and support themselves in a country that treated them like second-class citizens. For too long the Panthers' story has been a footnote to the civil rights movement rather than what it was: a revolutionary socialist movement that drew thousands of members--mostly women--and became the target of one of the most sustained repression efforts ever made by the U.S. government against its own citizens.
Revolution in Our Time puts the Panthers in the proper context of Black American history, from the first arrival of enslaved people to the Black Lives Matter movement of today. Kekla Magoon's eye-opening work invites a new generation of readers grappling with injustices in the United States to learn from the Panthers' history and courage, inspiring them to take their own place in the ongoing fight for justice.
Author Notes
Kekla Magoon is a writer, editor, speaker, and educator. She is the author of Camo Girl, 37 Things I Love (in No Particular Order), How It Went Down, and numerous non-fiction titles for the education market. Her book, The Rock and the River, won the Coretta Scott King/John Steptoe Award. She also leads writing workshops for youth and adults and is the co-editor of YA and Children's Literature for Hunger Mountain, the arts journal of Vermont College.
(Bowker Author Biography)
Reviews (4)
Publisher's Weekly Review
In this powerful history, Magoon (Light It Up) presents an incisive, in-depth study of the Black Panther Party. Detailed, accessible text includes ample context around the BPP's rise and fall, starting with a history of slavery, emancipation, and segregation before diving into the civil rights and Black Power movements and ending with Black Lives Matter. While offering nuanced information about the group's self-defense stance ("capable of fighting back, but would prefer not to fight at all"), Magoon also describes the community programs that the party created for Black people, its dedication to ensuring all of its actions were legal, and the lengths to which the U.S. government and local law officials went to destroy the party. Photographs, newspaper clippings, and Black Panther art are featured throughout, providing visual breaks that inform while contributing to a pace that is digestible for young readers. Back matter includes an author's note explaining the importance of young people in creating lasting change, a timeline of the events mentioned, glossaries of key people and terms, and a list of sources and further reading. Ages 12--up. Agent: Ginger Knowlton, Curtis Brown. (Sept.)
Horn Book Review
In October 1966, in Oakland, California, Black college students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale began to organize in reaction to rising police brutality in Black communities. Those plans birthed the Black Panther Party, established as a response to an unjust system and one of the most misunderstood political parties/movements in modern history. "The Panthers played several roles: they were civil rights and human rights activists, militant revolutionaries, and community organizers, and they were also a political party." Magoon (Light It Up, rev. 11/19; The Highest Tribute, rev. 1/21) has produced a comprehensive and all-encompassing account of the group. Initially formed with the intent to monitor the police -- legally -- the Party created and expanded multiple social programs that served their communities. Providing, in the first four chapters of the book, an overview of centuries of enslavement, torture, oppression, lies, and aggression, Magoon likens the treatment of Black Americans to an earthquake, noting that "the major turning points of history are seismic, born of eons of slightly shifting geologic plates. They do not emerge from nowhere. They are born of deep unrest." Her history of the Black Panther Party is meticulously detailed, from the creation of its Ten-Point Platform and Program to the eventual divide in leadership following sabotage by the FBI's covert counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. Magoon goes beyond the dissolution of the Party to discuss life for Black Americans from 1982 to 2020, expertly drawing parallels between the Black Panther Party and the Black Lives Matter movement. A wealth of quotes, photos, and sidebars enriches the book. Complete with an author's note, an annotated list of key players in the Black Panther Party, a timeline of important events, a glossary of terms, a bibliography for further reading, and source notes, this compelling work would be invaluable for both individual and classroom reading. Eboni Njoku September/October 2021 p.122(c) Copyright 2021. The Horn Book, Inc., a wholly owned subsidiary of Media Source, Inc. No redistribution permitted.
Booklist Review
The past couple of years have brought eye-opening social discourses and essential histories, such as Jason Reynolds and Ibram X. Kendi's Stamped (2020), into the mainstream. To these Magoon adds a thorough history of the Black Panther Party, which incorporates the longstanding abuse of Black Americans, from slavery to today, and an examination of the civil rights movement and the shifting ethos that led to the Panthers' success, persecution, and demise. The book is exceedingly well researched, illustrated, and sourced--its back matter of time lines, key persons, and resources can stand as its own subject guide--and the writing is unapologetically candid about how people invested in upholding white supremacy and economic structures sought to thwart the success of Black communities, often breaking the law in order to do so. This truth makes the Panther's commitment to abiding by the law, pursuing education, and creating community-betterment programs all the more powerful, particularly when they were more popularly portrayed in the media as violent. Magoon dispels this misconception without ignoring problems within the party--her truth-telling goes both ways. The vital contributions teenagers and women made to the party will strike a chord with today's youth, as will the overlap in Panther causes with those of today's racial justice movement. This rounded accounting of a pivotal but often-overlooked time in U.S. history should be widely read.
Kirkus Review
An account of the origins and lasting impact of the militant organization that grew out of the oppression of Blacks in the United States. The Black Panther Party existed in mostly poor and low-income communities across the country from 1966 until 1982, advocating self-reliance and self-defense, particularly against aggressive policing. Magoon provides critical historical context, documenting the harsh, sometimes deadly efforts to control first the enslaved, then those who were freed when legal bondage ended. Despite legal changes brought by the civil rights movement, many communities suffered economic deprivation, societal challenges, and hostility from police and politicians, leading activists to see Black political power as an alternative. The Panthers took a holistic approach to improving Black communities by providing food, health, and education programs. Their rising influence elicited harassment from law enforcement, including often illegal FBI attempts to destroy them. Many of their leaders were imprisoned or killed in the process, weakening the party's effectiveness. This comprehensive, meticulously researched volume helps readers understand the Panthers within the spectrum of Black resistance. The narrative is cinematic in its descriptions of the personalities and incidents that make up the party's history while presenting a throughline to the anti-racist activism of today. The book's attractive graphic design, with ample use of robin's egg blue in contrast to dramatic black-and-white photographs, and with memorable quotes scattered throughout, makes it visually pleasing. The highly readable and not-to-be-missed story of America's history and current reality. (key people, timeline, glossary, further reading, source notes, bibliography, image credits, index) (Nonfiction. 12-18) Copyright (c) Kirkus Reviews, used with permission.
Excerpts
Excerpts
Shattering the Status Quo Early in the morning on May 2, 1967, a group of thirty Black people piled into cars in Oakland, California, and struck out on the highway, headed for the state capitol in Sacramento. The group was made up of twenty-four men and six women. Among them were members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, other community residents, and the family members of Denzil Dowell, a young Black man who had been shot and killed by police officers about a month earlier. The trunks of the cars were filled with pistols, shotguns, and semiautomatic weapons. Everyone was nervous. But the eighty-mile drive from Oakland to Sacramento gave them plenty of time to think and to remember why they were going to the capitol: because they did not want what happened to Denzil Dowell to happen to anyone else. Denzil was a Black teen accused of robbing a local liquor store. Police officers shot him multiple times, although he was unarmed and possibly in the act of surrendering. Then they left him to die without even calling an ambulance. It wasn't the first time that area police had shot a Black suspect in questionable circumstances. Police officers rarely gave Black citizens the benefit of the doubt. Far beyond Oakland, throughout the nation, Black Americans struggled with similar issues. An entire movement for civil rights was underway, one goal of which was to protect Black people from race-based violence. Young people led peaceful public protests aimed at calling attention to racism, changing unjust laws, and demanding equal treatment. Unfortunately, those changes hadn't come in time to save Denzil Dowell. So for the past few months, the Panthers had been leading armed community patrols that monitored police officers at work, in hopes of preventing more senseless violence. Now they were headed to the state legislature to protest a bill called the Mulford Act, which would make it illegal for citizens to carry guns in public. This piece of legislation had been introduced specifically to prevent the Panthers from carrying the weapons they used to protect citizens from such police brutality. As American citizens, they knew they had a right to protest a law they disagreed with, so they were headed to Sacramento to publicly share their views in front of elected officials. When they arrived at the state capitol, the Panthers parked their cars right in front of the building. They got out, retrieved their guns, and began loading them with live ammunition. The guns hadn't been loaded during the long drive because it was illegal to carry loaded weapons (except pistols) in a car. The Panthers had carefully studied California gun laws, and they followed them to the letter. It was still legal to carry unconcealed weapons in public places, and the Panthers planned to do so as part of their protest against the Mulford Act. At that moment, California governor Ronald Reagan was standing out in front of the capitol, speaking to a group of students and members of the press. The Black Panthers gathering their weapons nearby frightened him. He abruptly ended his talk and left the scene. The journalists turned around to see what had startled the governor and saw a fresh story coming at them. They turned their microphones and cameras toward the Panthers, capturing their approach on the capitol. The chairman of the Black Panther Party, Bobby Seale, led the way up the courthouse steps. He had a .45-caliber pistol holstered at his hip. Right behind him, toting a twelve-gauge shotgun, was sixteen-year-old Lil' Bobby Hutton, the youngest Panther. The Panthers knew they might be arrested, even though they were not breaking the law. They knew that police or security guards in the capitol might even shoot at them. They were prepared to shoot back if they had to. They were willing to go to jail if they had to. But no matter what happened, they intended to deliver their message. The Panthers approached the front doors and came face-to-face with a security guard standing at the entrance. The guard may have been uncomfortable at the sight of the Panthers, but he knew the law, too. "Well, you aren't violating anything with your gun, so if you want to, you can go inside," he said. The Panthers entered the capitol rotunda, a high-ceilinged, clean, and shiny space. People turned to stare at them. In their black leather jackets and berets, with guns boldly displayed, the Panthers seemed shockingly out of place in the halls of government. Most of the group had never set foot in a legislative building before. Bobby Seale looked around, trying to figure out which way led to the visitors' gallery, where citizens could go to watch the state assembly proceedings. "Anybody here know where you go in and observe the Assembly making these laws?" he called out. "Upstairs on the next floor," someone answered. So the Panthers went upstairs, looking for the visitors' room. The reporters surrounded them the whole way, shouting questions and jockeying to get in the best camera position to document the Panthers walking through the capitol. Following signs for the Assembly Chambers, Bobby Seale walked through a door on the second floor -- and found himself standing not in the visitors' gallery, but right on the Assembly floor! Members of the press -- on purpose or not -- had misdirected the Panthers, and they had ended up somewhere regular citizens weren't supposed to be. Frightened legislators began shouting for the Panthers to leave the room. Security guards approached the Panthers in the doorway. One reached out and took Lil' Bobby Hutton's shotgun away from him. Lil' Bobby cried out in protest, "Am I under arrest? What the hell you got my gun for? If I'm not under arrest you give me my gun back!" He knew he wasn't breaking the law by carrying the weapon and was within his rights to ask for it back. The security guards escorted the Panthers out of the Assembly Chambers. They went willingly. The Panthers had not come to the state capitol to shoot anyone. They had come to read a statement, which Bobby Seale presented on the capitol steps, amid the chaos created by frightened politicians and journalists: The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense calls upon the American people in general and the Black people in particular to take careful note of the racist California Legislature which is now considering legislation aimed at keeping the Black People disarmed and powerless at the very same time that racist police agencies throughout the country are intensifying the terror, brutality, murder and repression of Black People. He launched into reading Executive Mandate #1, a brief summary of the Panthers' beliefs and goals, which included demands for equal treatment: Black people have begged, prayed, petitioned, demonstrated and everything else to get the racist power structure of America to right the wrongs which have historically been perpetrated against Black people. . . . The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense believes that the time has come for Black people to arm themselves against this terror before it is too late. . . . A people who have suffered so much for so long at the hands of a racist society must draw the line somewhere. We believe that the Black communities of America must rise up as one man to halt the progression of a trend that leads inevitably to their total destruction. The event made news far beyond Sacramento. It had been an honest mistake, barging directly into the legislative session, but it worked out just fine for the Panthers. After all, they had wanted to be noticed and to have their message heard. Networks all over the country aired Bobby Seale's statement. But the greater impact came from the sight of those rows of Black people with guns, dressed like a small army behind him as he spoke such fiery words. People around the country wondered, Who are these Panthers? The powerful image of Black men with guns on the steps of the California legislature put the Panthers on the map. For most of white America, that image defined the Black Panther Party. But to freeze the Panthers in this moment is to do them a disservice -- it is to overlook the fact that the Panthers went to Sacramento that day not to commit violence but to speak a difficult truth about racism directly to the power structure of the government. They went as law-abiding citizens and yet were treated as an inherent threat because of the color of their skin. Twenty-three Panthers were arrested that day, despite not having broken the law. Black Americans watching from around the country recognized the deeper promise of social transformation that the Panthers offered. In Seattle, eighteen-year-old Aaron Dixon felt "a tinge of pride and amazement" at the sight of the Panthers on television. "The image stayed in the back of my mind," he said. And fifteen-year-old Jamal Joseph, looking on from the Bronx, in New York City, thought, "Look at those dudes. . . . They've got black leather coats and berets, carrying guns, scaring white people. . . . I [want] to join." Soon he would have the opportunity. After their march on the state capitol, the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense would not remain a small Oakland-based organization much longer. May 2, 1967, marked a significant turning point -- the moment when the Black Panthers' posture of armed self-defense became a matter of national awareness. This new militancy rolled across the American landscape like an earthquake, trembling the foundation of the republic. On the surface, such an earthquake seems quite sudden. It catches people off guard. The ground begins to roll, and it is all too easy to lose footing. Solid things, things designed to be immovable, tilt suddenly, casting all confidence askew. In moments of nervousness and fear, when the ground is shaking and it feels as if the world might come crashing down, sometimes people forget that earthquakes are, in fact, not sudden. Nor do serious political movements arise in one fell swoop. Nothing happens overnight. The major turning points of history are seismic, born of eons of slightly shifting geologic plates. They do not emerge from nowhere. They are born of deep unrest. Excerpted from Revolution in Our Time: the Black Panther Party's Promise to the People by Kekla Magoon All rights reserved by the original copyright owners. Excerpts are provided for display purposes only and may not be reproduced, reprinted or distributed without the written permission of the publisher.
Table of Contents
| Preface | p. viii |
| Spark: May 2, 1967 | p. 1 |
| 1 Shattering the Status Quo | p. 3 |
| Kindling: 1619-1965 | p. 11 |
| 2 The Dark Past | p. 13 |
| 3 Separate but Equal | p. 27 |
| 4 Shall We Overcome? | p. 39 |
| 5 The Aggressive Alternative | p. 55 |
| Blaze: 1966-1982 | p. 71 |
| 6 Picking Up the Gun | p. 73 |
| 7 A Cold Reception | p. 89 |
| 8 Filling the Ranks | p. 97 |
| 9 Off the Pigs! | p. 115 |
| 10 Death of the King | p. 133 |
| 11 Going National | p. 143 |
| 12 Life in the Party | p. 155 |
| 13 Survival Pending Revolution | p. 173 |
| 14 All Power to the People | p. 185 |
| 15 The Wrath of COINTELPRO | p. 197 |
| 16 Traitors in the Ranks | p. 213 |
| 17 Political Prisoners | p. 225 |
| 18 The Split | p. 239 |
| 19 Last Gasp | p. 257 |
| Embers: 1982-Present | p. 273 |
| 20 The Post-Panther Decades | p. 275 |
| 21 Legacy | p. 299 |
| Authors Note Revolution in Our Time | p. 309 |
| Acknowledgments | p. 317 |
| Key People | p. 318 |
| Time Line | p. 324 |
| Glossary | p. 326 |
| Further Reading | p. 329 |
| Source Notes | p. 333 |
| Bibliography | p. 365 |
| Image Credits | p. 376 |
| Copyright Acknowledgments | p. 382 |
| Index | p. 383 |
