MERRITT COLLEGE • 56TH & GROVE • HUEY NEWTON + BOBBY SEALE
Two Oakland students wrote a 10-Point Program, patrolled police with law books, and built free breakfasts that fed 20,000 kids — becoming the most influential (and FBI-targeted) movement of the '60s.
“We want freedom. We want power to determine the destiny of our Black Community.”
Full employment; Oakland's Black unemployment was 2× white rate despite port/shipyard wealth.
Exemption from Vietnam — “we will not fight to kill other people of color.”
“We want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice and peace.”
Called “survival pending revolution” — 60+ programs copied by the US government itself.
20,000 children daily by 1969. FBI called it “the greatest threat.” USDA free lunch today descends from it.
Oakland's People's Free Medical Clinics tested for sickle cell when hospitals wouldn't.
Oakland Community School (1973–82) — Huey's model school, top test scores, free.
FBI's Hoover vowed to “neutralize” Panthers: 1969 Chicago raid killed Fred Hampton; Oakland HQ raided repeatedly. Party dissolved 1982, but legacy lives: cop-watch (now phone cameras), community fridges, and Oakland's 2020 Huey P. Newton memorial at 9th & Center. Visit: African American Museum & Library (Oakland), DeFremery Park rallies site.