"October 2016 marks the fiftieth anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party. Photojournalist Bryan Shih, who has been interviewing and taking portraits of the surviving Panthers around the country for years, has partnered with Yohuru Williams, dean and history professor at Fairfield University, to deliver the definitive celebration of the Black Panthers. Part oral history, part scrapbook, this is a beautifully produced book of forty-five black-and-white portraits of the Panthers today, alongside interviews with the surviving Panthers, archival images, Black Panther Party pamphlets and speeches, as well as essays by contributors such as Peniel Joseph, Alondra Nelson, Rhonda Williams, and other high-profile scholars to provide background and context."--Provided by publisher.
Brilliant, painful, enlightening, tearful, tragic, sad, and funny, this photo-essay book is at its core about healing, and about the social justice work that still needs to be done in the era of hip-hop, Black Lives Matter, and the historic presidency of Barack Obama. -- Kevin Powell, author of The Education of Kevin Powell: A Boy's Journey into Manhood
A brilliantly conceived volume. Bryan Shih and Yohuru Williams demonstrate why the Panthers' story-its lessons and failures-even fifty years after its founding remains key to understanding national and international struggles for freedom and justice today. -- Cheryl Finley, professor and director of visual studies, Cornell University
Even fifty years after it was founded, the Black Panther Party remains one of the most misunderstood political organizations of the twentieth century. But beyond the labels of extremist and violent that have marked the party, and beyond charismatic leaders like Huey Newton, Bobby Seale, and Eldridge Cleaver, were the ordinary men and women who made up the Panther rank and file.
In The Black Panthers, photojournalist Bryan Shih and historian Yohuru Williams offer a reappraisal of the party's history and legacy. Through stunning portraits and interviews with surviving Panthers, as well as illuminating essays by leading scholars, The Black Panthers reveals party members' grit and battle scars-and the undying love for the people that kept them going.