The Influence Of The Black Panther Party On The Civil Rights Movement

There is debate on whether the Black Panther party positively impacted the African American community and influenced the success of the Civil Rights Movement during 1966 and into 1982. Others debate whether the Black Panther party should be a true representative of the African American due to their methods of violence and riots during the Civil Rights Movement. The Black Panthers believed that the movement that was led by Martin Luther King was not giving the African American community what they wanted. They considered King’s non-violent campaign to have been unsuccessful “and any promised changes to their lifestyle via the ‘traditional’ civil rights movement, would take too long to be implemented or simply not introduced.” (Trueman) The Black Panther organization wanted the government, businesses, and other forms of higher authority to give them the rights that they demanded. Their primary goals can be identified through their Ten-Point Program. However, it is difficult to determine whether this was a good aspect of the Black Panther party because of the beliefs and “wants” they acted on: freedom, full employment, an end to capitalist exploitation, education that emphasized black history, exemption from military service, and more. However, their methods of protest were different from those of other organizations. Many historians compare the Black Panthers with Martin Luther King Jr. movement because their methods are very different. MLK’s tactics involved nonviolent …show more content…
The public’s resentment towards the BPP was increasing and, at the point, the public were not willing to listen and understand the BPP. Their goals were no longer going to be a possible part of America’s societal principles and, although the BPP believed otherwise, the participation and action of the American government and American people was necessary to establish their ideas into