Revolutionary Art:

Black Panther Party Lives on Through its Art

by Dhyia Thompson

December 2nd, 2009 marked the 40th anniversary of the murder of Black Panther Party (BPP) leader Fred Hampton -- who was gunned down in an apartment on the West Side of Chicago in 1969. The Black Panther Party left a powerful imprint within the American political, cultural and social fabric, but ultimately disbanded in the late 1970s. What remains of the Party, besides well-known members like Angela Davis and Congressman Bobby Rush, are the Black Panther Party Commemoration Committee and the BPP’s revolutionary artwork.

Emory Douglas, former Minister of Culture for the BPP, was the artist behind the revolutionary art and today he spends most of his time traveling the world lecturing about those tumultuous and exciting times and how it inspired a new thought in social and political artwork. Most of his work in the 60’s and 70’s was published in The Black Panther, which was the BPP’s weekly publication. Last December, Southsiders gathered at an art exhibit to commemorate The Black Panther artwork as well as Douglas’ new work at the University of Chicago’s DOVA Temporary Gallery in Hyde Park.

Douglas studied commercial art at the City College of San Francisco, after a friend noticed his knack for drawing and suggested he train formally. He was heavily involved in the Black Power movement, but was introduced to the Black Panthers in 1967 when the College invited Malcolm X’s wife for an event and he was asked to create a celebratory poster for it. The Black Panthers had been hired to handle the security for the event and two gentlemen were sent over for the job. It turned out those two men were Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, co-founders of the Black Panther Party. It was at that event that Douglas decided he wanted to join the BPP and quickly became a staple.

A few months after his encounter with Newton and Seale, the BPP witnessed a mass public interest in The Black Panther. For its 4th publication, Douglas was asked to visually relay the Party’s tradition of resistance and agitation into a commercial drawing for the paper. Emory Douglas’ first commissioned art piece was a pig drawing. The pig signified the Police’s incessant harassment of Blacks in Oakland, CA. Drawn on the pig was the badge number of a particular policeman that was notorious for tormenting residents of that community.

Later on that year, during what has been called a “highly debated” altercation at a traffic checkpoint between Newton and 2 police officers, Newton was shot and ironically the same officer who Douglas reflected in the pig drawing was killed that night.

Douglas says, “The art was a reflection and transcended the African American experience. The art was a reflection of the politics of the Black Panther Party, it wasn’t necessarily a ‘me art’ it was a ‘we art’. The art itself would not have taken place without that whole movement. [It] captured the spirit of the time.”

Douglas conveys the essence of his art has not changed since his days as the Panther’s commercial artist, but the message is different and reflects the issues plaguing the Black community today – his work responds to the HIV/AIDS epidemic, the Prison Industrial Complex, and reparations (one piece illustrates President Obama apologizing for slavery). When asked what he thought Hampton would say about these issues and the Black condition, Emory states that “If Hampton were alive today, he would more than likely look at things in the same light as everyone else…there’s a real need for [organizational] leadership and also [a need for] organizations that can truly get out and serve the interests of the community.”

Today, Douglas is inspiring a new generation of revolutionary artists from across the globe, which includes New Zealand, London and Australia – these artists also seek ways to challenge social norms and evoke emotion and tension through the commercial medium. Douglas hopes to inspire emerging artists by listening to their stories and allowing them to develop pieces in their own way; then providing his insight and guidance.

Dhyia is a non-profit management consultant with the virgoProject, LLC. For respectful exchanges of ideas please feel free to share comments at dhyia@yahoo.com.