The Black Panther Party evolved out of the necessity to improve the lives of the American black people and proclaimed self-defense. Huey Newton and Bobby Seale established the Black Panther Party in California in 1966.The rise of the Panther Party came about during a period in history of great up risings and confusion in the United States. The Panthers lost their political power by the late 70s. The Panther Party collapse was credited in part to the criminal background of their leaders. In the pages to follow is background information on the Party it's self and three of their leaders, Eldridge Cleaver, Stokely Carmichael and Elaine Brown.
             The power associated with the Panther symbol created the image that the Party desired to achieve. The term "Self defense" distinguished the Party's philosophy from that of the dominant nonviolent civil rights group, and paid homage to the Louisiana based Deacons for Defense (Myers). The Black Panther Party set up ten demands for their wants and beliefs: freedom, employment, housing, education, exemption of black men from the military, end to police brutality, freedom for all incarcerated black men and blacks to be tried by blacks. These ten demands were proclaimed in THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY PLATFROM & PROGRAM, published in October 1966 (Black 1-3). Black attitudes escalated after the publication of an article quoting Newton as to saying, "The only real power that black people in America have is the power to destroy America" (Cleaver 377). This gave rise to new Panther groups across the U. S. with violent acts as their foundation.
             Eldridge Cleaver was one of the most pronounced of the Panther's leaders. Cleaver was born in Arkansas but raised in the Los Angeles Watts section. He joined the Panthers at the age of thirty-three, of which nineteen of those years were spent either in prison or on parole. By the age of eighteen Cleaver had made two trips to reform sc...