The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense was founded in 1966 by Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California. The Party quickly built global solidarity networks against white supremacy while providing vital mutual aid programs in Black communities, such as the Free Breakfast Program, and organizing anti-war movements. Nearly fifty years later, a new museum has opened near its birthplace, dedicated to telling the Black Panther Party’s story.
Located at 1427 Broadway, the 3,000-square-foot Black Panther Party Museum houses artifacts that once belonged to Dr. Newton, the Party’s Minister of Defense until his tragic murder in 1989. The museum highlights the Panthers’ community programs through exhibitions curated by Frederika Newton, Dr. Newton’s wife and president of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, and Dr. Xavier Buck, the foundation’s executive director. Designer Auburn Leigh collaborated with Newton and Dr. Buck to develop the museum’s exhibitions, brand identity, and gift shop.
Currently on view, Each One Teach One is a retrospective focused on the Oakland Community School, curated by Torman Jahi, an Oakland School District teacher and Bay Area Hip Hop Archives member. At this school, Panther Ericka Huggins pioneered early childhood education for Black students, incorporating innovative pedagogical approaches and free meal programs. Distinguished figures such as Maya Angelou, Rosa Parks, James Baldwin, and Willie Mays visited the school, which opened in 1973 at 6118 East 14th Street. Another exhibition, Revolutionary Grain, features original photography by Suzun Lucia Lamaina, who spent five years documenting the lives of over 50 former Black Panther Party members.
The museum aims to reclaim the narrative of the Black Panther Party, Dr. Xavier Buck explains. “When the media reported on the Panthers, they mostly focused on the police raids, the guns,” he told The Architect’s Newspaper. He recalled how, in 1969, J. Edgar Hoover called the Party “the greatest threat to internal security of the country,” leading to widespread COINTELPRO surveillance, raids, and assassinations of Black leaders.
“So the media wasn’t talking about the work they were doing with the Free Breakfast Program, the free medical clinics, or bussing people to prisons so they could visit family members,” Dr. Buck continued. “This museum is about communicating the incredible work the Panthers did.”
The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation was established in 1995 by Frederika Newton and former Black Panther chief-of-staff David Hilliard to preserve Dr. Newton’s archival collection and challenge misconceptions about his legacy. “The media had slandered his name, and the Party’s name for so long,” Dr. Buck said. “The foundation was built to tell Dr. Newton’s true story.” Learn more at www.blackpantherpartymuseum.org.
