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15 Oct1966
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2 May1967
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2 Apr1969
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26 Feb1971
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21 May1971
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16 May1973
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9 Aug1974
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20 Jan1977
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8 Aug1978
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2 Nov1979
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20 Jan1981
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1 Jun1982
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12 May1985
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22 Aug1989
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13 Mar1998
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1 May1998
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4 Oct2013
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10 Jan2015
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19 Feb2016
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27 Apr2018
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16 Jun2018
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24 Jul2018
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Black Panther party founded
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, as it was initially known, is founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California.
Getty Images
The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, as it was initially known, is founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale in Oakland, California.
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Armed protest in state capitol
A cadre of Black Panthers march into the California state Capitol, rifles aloft, to protest a new law banning them from openly carrying weapons on the streets as part of their 'cop watch' neighborhood patrols. The ban was signed into law by then governor of California, Ronald Reagan.
Alamy Stock Photo
A cadre of Black Panthers march into the California state Capitol, rifles aloft, to protest a new law banning them from openly carrying weapons on the streets as part of their 'cop watch' neighborhood patrols. The ban was signed into law by then governor of California, Ronald Reagan.
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FBI retaliates with Cointelpro
Senior agents FBI authorise the launch of a massive counter-intelligence operation against the Panthers through the already existing program Cointelpro. Agents used a range of surveillance and dirty tricks to undermine the movement and sew dissent.
Archive.org
Senior agents FBI authorise the launch of a massive counter-intelligence operation against the Panthers through the already existing program Cointelpro. Agents used a range of surveillance and dirty tricks to undermine the movement and sew dissent.
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Martin Luther King assassinated
Martin Luther King is shot dead in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The black power leader Stokely Carmichael calls for an armed response. Riots break out in more than 100 cities.
AP
Martin Luther King is shot dead in the Lorraine Motel in Memphis. The black power leader Stokely Carmichael calls for an armed response. Riots break out in more than 100 cities.
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Shootout in Oakland
Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers’ minister of information, organizes an ambush of police in West Oakland in retaliation for King’s death. It leads to a shootout in which Panther Bobby Hutton is killed. Cleaver is wounded and arrested. He later jumps bail and flees to Cuba and then Algeria.
Bettmann Archive
Eldridge Cleaver, the Black Panthers’ minister of information, organizes an ambush of police in West Oakland in retaliation for King’s death. It leads to a shootout in which Panther Bobby Hutton is killed. Cleaver is wounded and arrested. He later jumps bail and flees to Cuba and then Algeria.
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Richard Nixon presidency begins
AP
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Panther 21
A group of 21 Black Panthers in New York who become known as the Panther 21 indicted for allegedly planning bomb attacks in the city. After an eight-month trial they are acquitted.
Getty Images
A group of 21 Black Panthers in New York who become known as the Panther 21 indicted for allegedly planning bomb attacks in the city. After an eight-month trial they are acquitted.
Chicago Black Panthers killed
Two leaders of the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, are killed in a police raid. Hampton is shot in his bed.
Getty Images
Two leaders of the Chicago branch of the Black Panthers, Fred Hampton and Mark Clark, are killed in a police raid. Hampton is shot in his bed.
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Rift opens between Panther factions
Open split erupts in the Black Panther party between Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver in the course of a San Francisco TV show in which the two leaders denounce each other. The split is the beginning of the demise of the movement.
Bettmann Archive
Open split erupts in the Black Panther party between Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver in the course of a San Francisco TV show in which the two leaders denounce each other. The split is the beginning of the demise of the movement.
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Two New York City police officers killed
The police officers Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones were shot and killed in Harlem, New York. Members of the Black Liberation Army were later convicted: Albert 'Nuh' Washington who died in prison in 2000, Herman Bell who was released on parole in April, and Jalil Muntaqim, who remains incarcerated.
New York State Senate
The police officers Joseph Piagentini and Waverly Jones were shot and killed in Harlem, New York. Members of the Black Liberation Army were later convicted: Albert 'Nuh' Washington who died in prison in 2000, Herman Bell who was released on parole in April, and Jalil Muntaqim, who remains incarcerated.
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Police killing leads to life for Assata Shakur
A New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster, was shot and killed at a traffic stop. The Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, later sentenced to life plus 65 years. Sundiata Acoli, aka Clark Squire, also given life.
NY Daily News
A New Jersey state trooper, Werner Foerster, was shot and killed at a traffic stop. The Black Liberation Army member Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, later sentenced to life plus 65 years. Sundiata Acoli, aka Clark Squire, also given life.
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Bobby Seale bid for Oakland
Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the Black Panther party, stands for election as mayor of Oakland. He wins a third of the vote but loses to the incumbent.
Bettmann Archive
Bobby Seale, the co-founder of the Black Panther party, stands for election as mayor of Oakland. He wins a third of the vote but loses to the incumbent.
Nixon resigns
Getty Images
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Jimmy Carter presidency begins
AP
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Police siege of Move home
About 100 police officers storm the communal home of the Move organization in Philadelphia. One officer, James Ramp, is killed. Nine Move members are arrested and later convicted and sentenced to 30 years to life. They become known as the Move Nine.
AP
About 100 police officers storm the communal home of the Move organization in Philadelphia. One officer, James Ramp, is killed. Nine Move members are arrested and later convicted and sentenced to 30 years to life. They become known as the Move Nine.
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Assata Shakur escapes to Cuba
Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, makes dramatic escape from a women’s prison in Clinton, New Jersey, aided by three armed men. She flees to Cuba, where she still lives today having been granted asylum. She is on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list.
NY Daily News
Assata Shakur, aka Joanne Chesimard, makes dramatic escape from a women’s prison in Clinton, New Jersey, aided by three armed men. She flees to Cuba, where she still lives today having been granted asylum. She is on the FBI's most wanted terrorists list.
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Ronald Reagan presidency begins
Ronald Reagan enters the White House.
Getty Images
Ronald Reagan enters the White House.
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Curtain closes on Black Panthers
The Black Panther party formally dissolves. Its ending is widely taken to be the closing of the Oakland Community School, the elementary school founded by the Panthers in 1973.
Stephen Shames
The Black Panther party formally dissolves. Its ending is widely taken to be the closing of the Oakland Community School, the elementary school founded by the Panthers in 1973.
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Police drop bomb on Move home
Police drop a bomb from a helicopter onto the communal home of the Move organization in Osage Avenue, Philadelphia, igniting an inferno. Eleven Move members die in the blaze, including five children, and 61 houses are razed to the ground.
AP
Police drop a bomb from a helicopter onto the communal home of the Move organization in Osage Avenue, Philadelphia, igniting an inferno. Eleven Move members die in the blaze, including five children, and 61 houses are razed to the ground.
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Huey Newton murdered
Huey Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther party, murdered in an alleged drug deal in West Oakland.
Getty Images
Huey Newton, the co-founder of the Black Panther party, murdered in an alleged drug deal in West Oakland.
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Merle Africa of Move Nine dies in prison
Merle Austin Africa, one of the Move Nine, dies in Cambridge Springs women’s prison in Pennsylvania.
Corbis via Getty Images
Merle Austin Africa, one of the Move Nine, dies in Cambridge Springs women’s prison in Pennsylvania.
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Eldridge Cleaver dies in California
The Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver dies in Pomona, California. By then he had become a born-again Christian and a Republican.
Bettmann Archive
The Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver dies in Pomona, California. By then he had become a born-again Christian and a Republican.
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Mumia Abu-Jamal leaves death row
The former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal taken off death row and moved to a general prison population after 39 years facing execution. He is later resentenced to life without parole.
Lisa Terry via Getty Images
The former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal taken off death row and moved to a general prison population after 39 years facing execution. He is later resentenced to life without parole.
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Herman Wallace dies in Louisiana
Herman Wallace, a former Black Panther and one of the Angola Three who was held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 41 years, dies two days having been released from prison with end-stage cancer.
Reuters
Herman Wallace, a former Black Panther and one of the Angola Three who was held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 41 years, dies two days having been released from prison with end-stage cancer.
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Phil Africa of Move Nine dies in prison
Phil Africa, one of the Move Nine, dies in Dallas state prison in Pennsylvania.
AP
Phil Africa, one of the Move Nine, dies in Dallas state prison in Pennsylvania.
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Albert Woodfox released in Louisiana
Albert Woodfox, a former Black Panther and one of the Angola Three who was held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 43 years, is released.
AP
Albert Woodfox, a former Black Panther and one of the Angola Three who was held in solitary confinement in Louisiana for 43 years, is released.
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Herman Bell released on parole
Herman Bell, 70, is released on parole despite bitter opposition from the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. He had been sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1971 murder of two police officers in Harlem.
AP
Herman Bell, 70, is released on parole despite bitter opposition from the New York Patrolmen’s Benevolent Association. He had been sentenced to 25 years to life for the 1971 murder of two police officers in Harlem.
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Debbie Africa of Move Nine released
Debbie Sims Africa, 62, becomes the first of the Move Nine to be released on parole, walking free from Cambridge Springs women’s prison in Pennsylvania.
Courtesy of Michael Davis Africa Jr
Debbie Sims Africa, 62, becomes the first of the Move Nine to be released on parole, walking free from Cambridge Springs women’s prison in Pennsylvania.
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Robert Seth Hayes released
Robert Seth Hayes, 69, was released on 24 July 2018 from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York after 44 years.
Handout
Robert Seth Hayes, 69, was released on 24 July 2018 from the Sullivan Correctional Facility in New York after 44 years.
Editing Jessica Reed
Copy Ed Pilkington
Design Juweek Adolphe and Sam Morris
Copy Ed Pilkington
Design Juweek Adolphe and Sam Morris
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