Table Of ContentBlack against Empire
The History and Politics
of the Black Panther Party
WITH A NEW PREFACE
Joshua Bloom
and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
Praise for Black against Empire
“ There have been at least a half dozen books and fi lms by former Panthers, or
about them, over the last decade. Black against Empire, however, is unique
among them in the scope and depth of its scholarship.”
—Héctor Tobar, Los Angeles Times Book Review
“ Vivid renderings of scene . . . make comprehensible both the movement
and the times.”
—Publishers Weekly STARRED REVIEW
“ The fi rst comprehensive history of the Party.”
—Fredrick Harris, London Review of Books
“ A comprehensive and compelling history of the Black Panther Party. As
close to complete as one text can possibly be, it is the book I would
recommend to anyone wanting to read just one book about the Black
Panthers.”
—Ron Jacobs, CounterPunch
“ Twelve years of archival research helped the authors produce this fi rst
comprehensive book on the Black Panther Party, its members, its leaders,
and its resistance to the politics of the American government.”
—Los Angeles Magazine
“Lets you understand what happened—and why.”
—American History
“ Black against Empire breaks new scholarly ground in providing the fi rst
comprehensive history of the Black Panther Party. . . . [It] represents a
signifi cant contribution in restoring the integrity of Black Panther Party
activists who fought for social justice, and shows how the history of
racism in America sparked mental anguish and torment among black
peoples, who resisted in the best ways they knew how.”
—Jeremy Kuzmarov, History News Network
“ A welcome addition to the literature about the Oakland-born
organization that spread across the country like a prairie fi re in the
aftermath of the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr. in April 1968
and that altered the consciousness of African Americans.”
—Jonah Raskin, San Francisco Chronicle
“ Immediately assumed a central and critical spot within the Panther
canon. . . . As authoritative, respectful, and complete a record of the
Black Panther Party’s workings as we are likely to get.”
—Mark Reynolds, PopMatters
“ A riveting and thoughtful narrative of the Party’s formation and
ideational evolution. . . . Black against Empire is essential reading for
those looking to understand the rise and fall of movements for social
change.”
—Mary Potorti, Confl uence
“ A bracingly narrated, voluminously researched history of the Black
Panther Party. It plumbs rare archives and provides trenchant analysis of
how and why the Panthers tapped the historical moment and emerged as
a potent force.”
—Christopher D. Cook, Progressive
“ The fi rst high-quality history of the Black Panther Party. . . . For the fi rst
time, one can read, in a single volume, a well-researched history that
explains the origins of the Panthers in the context of Oakland
neighborhood politics and the group’s transformation into a social
service organization. For that reason alone, the book will become a
classic in the growing black power scholarship.”
—Fabio Rojas, American Historical Review
“ This meticulously researched history explores the combination of
revolutionary commitment and historical circumstance that enabled the
emergence of the Black Panther Party. Because they do not shy away
from the contradictions that animated this movement, Joshua Bloom and
Waldo Martin pose crucial questions about the genesis, rise, and decline
of the BPP that are as relevant to young generations of activists as they
are to those who came of age during that era.”
— Angela Y. Davis, Distinguished Professor Emerita, History of
Consciousness, University of California, Santa Cruz
“ This is the book we’ve all been waiting for: the fi rst complete history of
the Black Panther Party, devoid of the hype, the nonsense, the one-
dimensional heroes and villains, the myths, or the tunnel vision that has
limited scholarly and popular treatments across the ideological
spectrum.”
— Robin D. G. Kelley, Gary B. Nash Professor of American History,
University of California, Los Angeles
“ This is, by a wide margin, the most detailed, analytically sophisticated,
and balanced account of the Black Panther Party yet written. Anyone
who hopes to understand the group and its impact on American culture
and politics will need to read this book.”
— Doug McAdam, Ray Lyman Wilbur Professor of Sociology,
Stanford University
“ Bloom and Martin bring to light an important chapter in American
history. They carefully mine the archival data to give us an account of
the rise of the Black Panther Party, of its successes, and the shoals of
American politics on which it fractured.”
—Frances Fox Piven, President, American Sociological Association
“ An essential, deeply researched, and insightful study—the best so far—of
the complex history, inner workings, and confl icted legacy of the Black
Panther Party as it waged its relentless battle for human rights and racial
dignity in the streets of urban America.”
—Leon F. Litwack, President, Organization of American Historians
“ Bloom and Martin have written the fi rst comprehensive political history
of the Black Panther Party. They present an unvarnished, judicious
treatment of a much-revered, much-maligned, and widely misunderstood
revolutionary organization leading the charge for ‘Black Power’ in the
late 1960s and early 1970s.”
— Tera Hunter, Professor of History and African American Studies,
Princeton University
“ Through a fresh analytical framework that helps us understand the
revolutionary fervor of the 1960s, Bloom and Martin make clear that
the Panthers were not an aberration or fi gment of the popular imaginary.
They were the vanguard among black people seeking a way out of
nowhere.”
— Jane Rhodes, author of Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular
Rise of a Black Power Icon
“ Much has been written about the Party, but Black against Empire is the
defi nitive history of the Panthers—one that helps us rethink the very
meaning of a revolutionary movement.”
— Michael Omi, Professor of Ethnic Studies, University of California,
Berkeley
“ Remarkable. . . . As one who lived through the Panther era, I believe this
book should become a standard historical work for years to come.”
— Tom Hayden, author of The Port Huron Statement
“B lack against Empire is easily the most impressive, sweeping, and
substantive scholarly history of the BPP. . . . Black against Empire is a
masterful work. It is analytically sophisticated, superbly researched, and
a fi ne addition to the disparate histories of the most audacious and
signifi cant black leftist group of the period.”
—Jeff rey O. G. Ogbar, Journal of American History
“ Impressive. . . . Black against Empire does a brilliant job of revealing
how prominent fi gures in American (indeed global) public, social, and
intellectual life were touched by the Party’s infl uence.”
—Joyce M. Bell, Social Forces
“ Future historians of the Panthers and American radicalism will fi nd
Black against Empire a foundational text.”
—Michan Connor, Southern California Quarterly
G
THE GEORGE GUND FOUNDATION
IMPRINT IN AFRICAN AMERICAN STUDIES
The George Gund Foundation has endowed
this imprint to advance understanding of
the history, culture, and current issues
of African Americans.
The publisher gratefully acknowledges the generous support of
the African American Studies Endowment Fund of the University
of California Press Foundation, which was established by a
major gift from the George Gund Foundation.
Black against Empire
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Black against Empire
The History and Politics
of the Black Panther Party
WITH A NEW PREFACE
Joshua Bloom
and Waldo E. Martin, Jr.
UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA PRESS
