The popular media have portrayed the Black Panthers mainly for the rhetoric of violence some members employed and for the associations between the Panthers and a black militancy drawing on racial hostility to whites in general. Overlooked have been the efforts that branches of the organization undertook for practical economic and social progress within African-American neighborhoods, frequently in alliance with whites. Yohuru Williams' study of black politics in New Haven culminating in the arrival of the Panthers argues that the increasing militancy in the black community there was motivated...

With their collection "In Search of the Black Panther Party," Yohuru Williams and Jama Lazerow provided a broad analysis of the Black Panther Party and its legacy. In "Liberated Territory," they turn their attention to local manifestations of the organization, far away from the party s Oakland headquarters. This collection s contributors, all historians, examine how specific party chapters and offshoots emerged, developed, and waned, as well as how the local branches related to their communities and to the national party.

The histories and character of the party branches vary as widely as...

With their collection "In Search of the Black Panther Party," Yohuru Williams and Jama Lazerow provided a broad analysis of the Black Panther Party and its legacy. In "Liberated Territory," they turn their attention to local manifestations of the organization, far away from the party s Oakland headquarters. This collection s contributors, all historians, examine how specific party chapters and offshoots emerged, developed, and waned, as well as how the local branches related to their communities and to the national party.

The histories and character of the party branches vary as widely as...