A New Kind of Democracy? Political and Cultural Developments in the 1960s 419came under growing attack from the FBI. The FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover
monitored and harassed King more than ever in 1967 and 1968, continuing
to try to smear him as a Communist and blackmail him with reports on his
personal life.
The emergence of Black Power marked a distinct turning point in the
struggle and the most publicized political group of the day was the Black
Panthers, an organization of angry and armed Blacks dramatically different
than the SCLC or SNCC in its early days. The Panthers grew out of the
Lowndes County [Alabama] Freedom Organization, an African-American
political party started in 1966 to run in local elections whose symbol was a
black panther. Urban blacks in Oakland, California led by Huey Newton and
Bobby Seale subsequently formed the Black Panther Party [BPP] for Self-
Defense in late 1966 and became immediate media sensations. They wore black
berets and bandoliers, carried weapons, had shootouts with police, and rejected
King’s methods. Violence was “as American as cherry pie” according to H. Rap
Brown, so the Panthers offered the rhetoric and romance of revolution.
The BPP, however, contributed more to the backlash against Civil Rights
than to Black empowerment. Though the party never had a significantly large
membership and it did sponsor breakfast programs, an ambulance service,
FIGuRE 8-9 Black Panther Party meeting at the Lincoln Memorial in
Washington, D.C., 1970