The Black Panthers: the Effects of Their Rise and fall on Black America in the Modern Era

From the Preface: ...The Panthers’ lumpenproletariat orientation has frequently been called into question as a structural error within the party since the willingness to descend to violence and illegality was seen as greater from within this ‘scum’ social class than perhaps if the Party were more middle-class oriented. That analysis does not take into account that more than a mere product of their environment, the leaders and membership of the Black Panther Party were a product of their race, class, and moment in history. The confluence of all these factors to varying extents contributes to their antics and initiatives; therefore, rather than attempting to answer the impossibly open-ended question of ‘why’, this study instead asks what were the actions and initiatives taken; how did that influence their organization/mission; and finally, what do the answers to the former questions suggest in the modern era?