Daniel Bell
American sociologist (1919-2011)
Bobby Seale
co-founder of the Black Panther Party
Bobby Seale, an American political activist, co-founded the Black Panther Party and played a key role in the civil rights movement. He faced legal battles, including the Chicago 8 trial and New Haven Black Panther trials, but his legacy as a prominent figure in the fight for racial justice endures.
Table of Contents
About the Bobby Seale
Robert George Sealeis an American political activist and author. Seale is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the “Black Panther Party for Self-Defense”, the Party’s main practice was monitoring police activities and challenging police brutality in black communities, first in Oakland, California, and later in cities throughout the United States.
Seale was one of the eight people charged by the US federal government with conspiracy charges related to anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Seale’s appearance in the trial was widely publicized and Seale was bound and gagged for his appearances in court more than a month into the trial for what Judge Julius Hoffman said were disruptions.
Seale’s case was severed from the other defendants, turning the “Chicago Eight” into the “Chicago Seven”. After his case was severed, the government declined to retry him on the conspiracy charges. Though he was never convicted in the case, Seale was sentenced by Judge Hoffman to four years for criminal contempt of court. The contempt sentence was reversed on appeal.
In 1970, while in prison, Seale was charged and tried as part of the New Haven Black Panther trials over the torture and murder of Alex Rackley, whom the Black Panther Party had suspected of being a police informer. Panther George Sams, Jr., testified that Seale had ordered him to kill Rackley. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in Seale’s trial, and the charges were eventually dropped.
Seale’s books include A Lonely Rage: The Autobiography of Bobby Seale, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton, and Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers (with Stephen Shames).
Frequently Asked Questions
Bobby Seale is an American political activist and author who is widely known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey P. Newton.
The Black Panther Party’s main practice was monitoring police activities and challenging police brutality in Black communities, first in Oakland, California, and later in cities throughout the United States.
Bobby Seale was one of the eight people charged by the US federal government with conspiracy charges related to anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. Seale was also charged and tried as part of the New Haven Black Panther trials over the torture and murder of Alex Rackley.
Seale’s appearance in the trial was widely publicized, and he was bound and gagged for his appearances in court more than a month into the trial for what Judge Julius Hoffman said were disruptions. Seale’s case was severed from the other defendants, turning the ,Chicago Eight, into the ,Chicago Seven,.
Seale’s books include ,A Lonely Rage: The Autobiography of Bobby Seale,, ,Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton,, and ,Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers, (with Stephen Shames).
5 Quotes by Bobby Seale
- 1.
They came down on us because we had a grass-roots, real people’s revolution, complete with the programs, complete with the unity, complete with the working coalitions, where we crossed racial lines.
Bobby Sealeco-founder of the Black Panther Party
- 2.
The first point was we wanted power to determine our own destiny in our own black community. And what we had done is, we wanted to write a program that was straightforward to the people. We didn’t want to give a long dissertation.
Bobby Sealeco-founder of the Black Panther Party
- 3.
On the one hand, the guns were there to help capture the imagination of the people. But more important, since we knew that you couldn’t observe the police without guns, we took our guns with us to let the police know that we have an equalizer.
Bobby Sealeco-founder of the Black Panther Party
- 4.
We were like heroes, to stand there and observe the police, and the police were scared to move upon us.
Bobby Sealeco-founder of the Black Panther Party
- 5.
You don’t fight racism with racism, the best way to fight racism is with solidarity.
Bobby Sealeco-founder of the Black Panther Party