Black Lives Matter: The Black Panthers and Their Legacy. Video and photos

2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party in Oakland in October of 1966. This panel will look back to the Black Panthers to understand their legacy as a black nationalist organization that sought to defend the community from police violence as well as to organize free breakfasts for children and health clinics. In addition to exploring the history of the Black Panthers in Portland, we will seek to understand the links to today’s black liberation movements. To what extent is Black Lives Matter a legacy of the Black Panthers? In what ways does Black Lives Matter differ from the Black Panthers in terms of its internal structure as well as its goals?

Percy Hampton, Black Panther Party of Portland founding member

Reiko Hillyer, L&C Assistant Professor of History

Anoop Mirpuri, Assistant Professor of English at PSU

Moderator: Elliott Young, L&C Professor of History and Director of Ethnic Studies 

Co-sponsored by Ethnic Studies, Office of Inclusion and Multicultural Engagement (IME), Black Student Union and History

See video below