... the Oakland Direct Action Committee and activists like Mark Comfort engaged in some of the activities and adopted some of the symbolism that would become Panther trademarks in the late 1960s. Oakland was influenced by regional developments in Berkeley, San Francisco, and Los Angeles as well as events...

... This chapter explores the BPP’s growth from a local to national movement and the changing role of armed self-defense in the party. It analyzes the relationships between the local branches and the national office, especially in the Bay Area, and the Panthers’ embrace of third-party politics...

... This chapter traces the organizational decline of the BPP. It argues that the Panthers’ inability to hold leadership accountable, build relationships and support with the local community, and negotiate a response to political repression in the context of the leadership’s illegal activity led...

... Black Panthers: After World War II, communist cats and capitalist cats entered both domestic and international politics. At the height of monopoly capital’s Cold War, the police raided the Black Cat gay bar in Los Angeles three years before the famous Stonewall Riots and the CIA launched...