From the exhibit “Black Power to Black People: Branding the Black Panther Party” at Poster House, New York

1967

H. Rap Brown was a member of both the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. He is associated with the phrase “burn, baby, burn,” hence the match.

1968

Sixteen-year-old Bobby Hutton had joined the Black Panther Party two years earlier. Two days after the assassination of Martin Luther King, he was part of a group of Panthers led by Eldridge Cleaver who engaged in a shootout with the Oakland police. The Panthers claim that Hutton had surrendered and was unarmed when he was shot 12 times by the police.

Eldridge Cleaver ran for president in 1968 on the Peace and Freedom Party Ticket. His running mate was Peggy Terry, a white working-class organizer.

1969

Poster refers to a group of 21 Panthers who were arrested in New York and charged with a plot to blow up three buildings and conspiracy to kill police officers. Those who couldn’t post bail was held at Rikers Island. All 21 were acquitted after an eight-month trial.

Bobby Seale was one of the original Chicago Eight, charged with conspiracy to incite a riot at the 1968 Democratic National Convention. The judge refused to grant Seale’s request that he represent himself. At one point he was gagged and bound in the courtroom. His case was declared a mistrial and the Chicago Eight became the Chicago Seven.

1970

In 1970, Angela Davis was arrested at a Howard Johnson’s in Manhattan. She was charged with murder, kidnapping and criminal conspiracy. It was alleged that she purchased the guns used by the Soledad Brothers, three inmates who murdered a prison guard in Soledad Prison in California. Davis was acquitted of all charges.

The title of this poster reflects a strategy proposed by Huey Newton to use small groups in their rebellion rather than large-scale riots.