Protest in Brixton
*The founding of the British Black Panthers is celebrated on this date in 1968.
(BBP) The British Black Panther movement (BPM) was a Black Power organization in the United Kingdom that fought for the rights of Black people and people of color. The American Black Panther Party, though they were unaffiliated with it.
Malcolm X was visiting the UK between 1964 and 1965. Stokely Carmichael's address at the Dialectics of Liberation Congress held at the Roundhouse in London in 1967 inspired many in Britain's Black Power movement. Carmichael's speech and visit had a profound influence on writer Obi Egbuna.
Activists in Britain were also inspired by the Black Panther newspaper and watching reports on the US Black Panthers on the BBC. The British Black Panther Movement (BPM) was founded in the summer of 1968 by Obi Egbuna, Darcus Howe, Linton Kwesi Johnson, and Olive Morris, the American Black Panther Party. Other early members included Altheia Jones-LeCointe and South Asian activists such as Farrukh Dhondy and Mala Sen, who united under the banner of "blackness," with "Black" serving as a political label for all people of color.
The BBP worked to educate Black communities, fight against racial discrimination, and celebrate Black history. It used imagery and symbols already established by the Black Panther Party in the United States. The BBP was fighting police brutality in the UK and "emphasized their preparedness and willingness to confront police when necessary." The BPM defended communities against fascist violence and supported the Caribbean and Palestinian liberation struggles. Several branches existed, but the main center of the organization was in Brixton, South London.
The BBP also had a Youth League and published its newspaper, Freedom News, as well as other publications, including Black Power Speaks (1968) and Black People's News Service (1970). The movement reached its pinnacle with the 1970 Mangrove Nine Trial. The trial, involving members of the Panther Movement and other black activists, succeeded in fighting against police harassment of Frank Critchlow's Mangrove restaurant. As the BBP fell apart in 1973, several women, including Beverley Bryan, Olive Morris, and Liz Obi, organized to form the Brixton Black Women's Group in Brixton.
