"We're revolutionaries, we announce, armed with a program and philosophy as well as guns. We stand for self-determination; we fight to let individuals and people decide their own fates" – Lil Bobby Hutton (Hillard 140).
             Looking at black psychology and the effects of the historical context surrounding the civil rights movement, it can be said that the Black Panther Party and movement was inevitable. While some may argue that a non-violent approach was not only an available means for black to dissent, but was a popular one at that; it can also be argued that the non-violent movement by the mid to late 1960s (after Martin Luther King Jr.'s assassination) had seemed to fail and was no longer giving hope to the young black men. David Hillard, the chief-of-staff for the Black Panther Party (referred to as BPP through out the paper) gives a first hand count of his life before and during his membership in his autobiography. Using his story and others as a basis for this paper, with statistical research focusing on the psychology of black activists, the beginnings of the BPP will be clearly visible.
             Dissent does not occur in response to a sole act. One after another actions take place, until a group of persons has the ability to take a stand; that ability being economic, social or psychological. The black power movement, and in particular, the BPP, did not begin because of one sit-in in 1960 or one riot in 1965.
             For years the black people of America have been oppressed. Even after the end of slavery, black Americans were not treated as equal. Stories are told of those who had to step off the sidewalks into the gutter when a white man passed by. Imagine the feelings of bitterness that would arise in any human being after being relegated to the gutter. And the gutter is where black people were forced to stay.
             Tracing dissent fully can take one back to Adam and Eve. This is n...