Three Issues of The Black Panther Newspaper with Articles on Bobby Seale, Police Brutality, and CIA Persecution, 1972-75

Black Panthers Archive

Periodical

[Black Panther Party][Black Radicalism] Black Panther Party political communication archive documenting how the Party used its newspaper to coordinate legal defense, circulate political education, publicize local and international struggle, and turn specific cases of police violence, imprisonment, and community survival into a national print program. Across these three issues, the paper does not function simply as reportage: it works as an organizing instrument, moving from “Transforming the System” and “If You’re Black, Get Back” to “Rape Victim Asserts Woman’s Right to Self Defense” and “C.I.A. ‘Dirty Tricks’ Against B.P.P.,” while also carrying appeals, campaign coverage, historical columns, and programmatic updates tied to the Party’s institutional life. The result is a compact record of how The Black Panther linked ideology, legal struggle, electoral activity, prison commentary, youth programming, and community defense within the same communications system.

The Black Panther. San Francisco, California: The Black Panther Party, 1972-1975. Archive of 3 issues. Large-format newspaper issues, including Vol. VII No. 27, February 26, 1972; Vol. XII No. 11, October 5, 1974; and Vol. XIII No. 25, January 11, 1975.
[1] The Black Panther. San Francisco, California: The Black Panther Party, 1972. Vol. VII, No. 27. Front page dominated by “The Soul of W.E.B. Du Bois,” with the subheading “Lest We Forget the Man Who Founded the N.A.A.C.P., Became a Communist and Fled to Africa to Die.” Interior includes headlines “Malcolm: Black Shining Prince, People’s Servant,” the anti-capital-punishment feature “An Army of Murderers,” Bobby Seale’s “Transforming the System,” and “If You’re Black, Get Back,” a report on police pressure against a Black businessman near Temple University.

[2] The Black Panther. San Francisco, California: The Black Panther Party, 1974. Vol. XII, No. 11. Front page led by “Cop Who Harassed Huey P. Newton Fired” and the Inez Garcia case headline “Rape Victim Asserts Woman’s Right to Self Defense.” The photographed interior spread combines an editorial on Portugal, the feature “Down With the Presidency,” a full article on the Huey P. Newton incident, a broadside-style fundraising appeal headed “Support the Committee for Justice for Huey P. Newton,” local education coverage including “Martial Arts Develop Hidden Skills,” and anti-police reporting from Newark under “Newark Puerto Rican Black Coalition Demands End to Police Brutality.”
[3] The Black Panther. San Francisco, California: The Black Panther Party, 1975. Vol. XIII, No. 25. Front page headline “C.I.A. ‘Dirty Tricks’ Against B.P.P.” is paired with “Charles Garry Interviewed” and the banner “Ex Cop: ‘…One Hell of a World for a Black Man’.” Interior pages show the paper operating across several registers at once: “Eartha Kitt, the C.I.A. and You,” “C.I.A. Director Admits to Domestic Spy Charges,” “An Appeal To Our Readers,” “Learning Center Plans Expansion of Programs and Facilities,” “Elaine Brown Campaign Manager Urges Wide Participation,” and the reproduced declaration of late detective Roland Charles, “‘…Hell of a World for a Black Man,’” tying state surveillance, local Oakland politics, and Party institution-building into one weekly issue.
Issued in the years after the Party’s late 1960s rise, these newspapers show the Black Panther Party adapting print to sustained organizational work rather than symbolic militancy alone. Legal defense for Huey P. Newton, prison writing, women’s self-defense, Black business survival, youth education, senior programs, anti-CIA exposure, and Elaine Brown’s electoral campaign all appear here as linked fronts of action, showing how the newspaper stitched together constituency, analysis, and mobilization across local, national, and international scales. Folded as issued with toning, edge wear, creasing, and small tears and chips at margins; issues show handling wear typical of newsprint of this age. Overall good condition. A three-issue archive of The Black Panther newspaper, the Party’s weekly periodical for political education, case-based mobilization, and institutional coordination.

Item #23186

Price: $1,250.00