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The Black Panther Party

Purpose Statement:

The Black Panther Party was a party that wanted to get back their own culture from the “white colonizers”. They believe that blacks should have a different and unique culture for themselves and be different from the whites.

From the start, the Black Panther program emphasized social needs. The party provided free direct services to the poor and disabled, including breakfast for children, testing for disease, ambulance services, shoes, escorts for senior citizens, and legal aid. The Black Panthers’ Intercommunal Youth Institute, a school, was honored by the governor of California for providing the highest level of elementary education in the state.

Because their revolutionary goals went beyond the interests of African Americans, the Panthers built coalitions with many nonblack organizations. They were the only major black organization to endorse gay and lesbian rights in the early 1970s.

I would research about these topics:

1. What is the Black Panther Party? What are its goals?

2. Who founded the Black Panther Party? For what reason?

3. What are the major achievements of the Black Panther Party?

4. How did the Black Panther Party influence or inspire other protests?

Summary:

The Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in the Merrit Community College. Their first achievement is to fight back a black studies curriculum. Then, they gathered armed forces to curb the police forces but nothing they did violates the law because they studied law before.

In 1967, the group fought for a black family that lost their member due to police shootings. When the state legislature introduced a bill to make them illegal, they went straight into the state legislature building and protested.

After that, the group continues to expand. Malcom X, an influential person in the group, suggested that people should abandon non-violent protests and encourage “black nationalism”. The group also merged with SNCC, but was later disassembled.

Ultimately, internal division and constant police raids brought about the end of the Black Panther Party. The group had played a dramatic role in the struggle for racial equality and justice at a time when the tactics of nonviolent civil disobedience were faltering. By organizing poor and alienated blacks into a powerful political movement, the Black Panther Party transformed the face of urban politics.

Relation to theme:

The Black Panthers belongs to people that took a stand using force. They used armed forces to protest against the government as well as non-violent protestors. They took a stand because they don’t want to integrate into the “white culture”, and they defended their position by violent protests.

Citations:

"The Black Panthers Engage in a Shoot-out with Oakland Police: April 6, 1968." Global Events: Milestone Events Throughout History. Ed. Jennifer Stock. Vol. 6: North America. Farmington Hills, MI: Gale, 2014. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Benson, Sonia, Daniel E. Brannen, Jr., and Rebecca Valentine. "Black Panther Party." UXL Encyclopedia of U.S. History. Vol. 1. Detroit: UXL, 2009. 168-171. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"Huey Newton." Violence in America. Ed. Ronald Gottesman and Richard Maxwell Brown. New York: Charles Scribner's Sons, 1999.U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Stanley-Becker, Isaac. "Arrests in Baton Rouge, where Black Panthers confront state troopers." Washington Post 9 July 2016. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Wilkins, Fanon Che. "The making of black internationalists: SNCC and Africa before the launching of Black Power, 1960-1965." The Journal of African American History 92.4 (2007): 468+. U.S. History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"Black Panther Party Pieces of History: 1966 - 1969." It's About Time - Black Panther Party Legacy & Alumni 45th Year Reunion, itsabouttimebpp.com, www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Chapter_History/BPP_Pieces_of_History.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"The Black Panthers." History Learning Site, The History Learning Site, 16 Aug. 2016, www.historylearningsite.co.uk/the-civil-rights-movement-in-america-1945-to-1968/the-black-panthers/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"FBI — Black Panther Party." FBI, FBI, vault.fbi.gov/Black%20Panther%20Party%20. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"History of the Black Panther Party." Stanford University, web.stanford.edu/group/blackpanthers/history.shtml. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Stein, Mark A., and Valarie Baseda. "Huey Newton Found Shot to Death on Oakland Street : Black Panthers Founder Killed in High Drug Area." Latimes, Los Angeles Times, 22 Aug. 1989, articles.latimes.com/1989-08-22/news/mn-1089_1_newton-oakland-panthers. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Personal Interest: Last year I learned about African Americans in the 1960’s and the video clip we watched on class mentioned the Black Panther Party. However there’s only a few descriptions about it and I don’t know what exactly they did. I am also curious about the relationship between the whites and blacks in the US since so much shootings in the US happened this year because of racial issues. Therefore I would like to research about this topic to answer my questions about the party itself as well as the racial problems in the US.

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The Kent State Tragedy

Purpose Statement: The Kent State Tragedy happened because of the Vietnam War. Students from Kent State University took a stand against the government because of the war, and the National Guard opened fire to some of them.

I would research about these topics:

1. The Vietnam War and how it led to the protests including the one in Kent State University

2. What made the National Guard open fire?

3. Who were in the protest, what did they do and how they viewed the protest

4. What is the result of the protest? Did it inspire any other protests or ideas in the future?

Summary:

The government of the US told the citizens that the Vietnam War was to liberate people from communists, but by the time U.S. planes began regular bombings of North Vietnam in February 1965, some critics had begun to question the government’s assertion that it was fighting a democratic war to liberate the South Vietnamese people.

Many famous people began opposing the war, including Muhammad Ali and Martin Luther King. Most of the leftist students also started to organize protests against the war. As more and more people died in the war, more US citizens joined the protest, and among them were the students of the Kent State University, who disagreed with the act of invading Cambodia.

During an altercation on May 4, twenty-eight guardsmen opened fire on a crowd, killing four students and wounding nine. Following the killings, the unrest across the country escalated even further. Almost five hundred colleges were shut down or disrupted by protests. However, more protests continued until the end of the war.

Relation to theme:

Any form of protest can be seen as taking a stand. In this case, the students in Kent State University took a stand against the government of the US because they thought it was unreasonable to start another draft for war. They defended their position by organizing protests around campus. Even if the National Guards treated them violently, they didn’t give up.

Citations:

Barringer, Mark, and Tom Wells. "The Anti-War Movement in the United States." Welcome to English « Department of English, College of LAS, University of Illinois, www.english.illinois.edu/maps/vietnam/antiwar.html. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"Kent State 1970." Kent State 1970, www.kentstate1970.org//index2.

"Kent State Incident - Vietnam War." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/kent-state. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"Kent State Shootings: Oral Histories · Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives."Digital Collections · Kent State University Libraries. Special Collections and Archives, omeka.library.kent.edu/special-collections/kent-state-shootings-oral-histories. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"Kent State Shootings." Ohio History Central, www.ohiohistorycentral.org/w/Kent_State_Shootings?rec=1595. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

Kindig, Jessie. "Vietnam: Students." UW Departments Web Server, depts.washington.edu/antiwar/vietnam_student.shtml. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Protests Against the Vietnam War." History Learning Site, The History Learning Site, www.historylearningsite.co.uk/vietnam-war/protests-against-the-vietnam-war/. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Rosenberg, David. "May 4, 1970: The Kent State University Shootings Told Through Pictures (PHOTOS)."Slate Magazine, www.slate.com/blogs/behold/2013/05/04/may_4_1970_the_kent_state_university_shootings_told_through_pictures_photos.html. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Vietnam War Protests - Vietnam War." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/topics/vietnam-war/vietnam-war-protests. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

"Vietnam War Timeline." History Timelines, www.datesandevents.org/events-timelines/06-vietnam-war-timeline.htm. Accessed 18 Oct. 2016.

Personal Interest: I first heard of the Kent State Tragedy when I was studying about Vietnam War. The Vietnam War was a huge event in the US not because of how dramatic the war is but about the social impacts it had. I am interested in how people in the US interacted with the government when they aren’t satisfied by it, and how the government dealt with the protestors. Since the Kent State Tragedy was one of the most important protests, I would like to research about it this year.

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Researchers write proposals before starting a project because it helps them to organize ideas and do their work more efficiently. Before doing the research, people always have many ideas about how the research could be done. For example, I always write down how I brainstormed about the ideas. However, after writing that down, the ideas weren’t organized, and I don’t know what exactly I should search for. By doing a proposal, I can organize my ideas and be prepared to search for the materials. Also, proposals help me eliminate the bad ideas. Sometimes I think my ideas are really good, but after researching for a while I found that it wasn’t related to the topic and everything I done for this topic would be useless. This time, when I do the proposals, I must think about how the idea relates to the topic, and I can just give up the ideas that aren’t related.

What I found challenging about the proposal is to find enough sources as well as explaining the topic. Firstly, some of the ideas are not very famous, and it is hard to find sources of information that relates to it. Since the proposal requires 10 sources, some of the ideas with only a few articles can’t be used. Secondly, even if you know that the idea is related to taking a stand, it is make the connection into words, like writing a warrant. But I think this is also an advantage for proposals because it makes me think deeper into the topic.

What I found easy about writing proposals is we have a format or writing it. Without the format, it is hard to put all the pieces of information together. But when we have the format, doing the proposal would just be answering questions, like “what is your topic about”, “why do you want to do this topic”, etc.

I think I would do the one for Gandhi. The first reason is I can find many information about him because he is a really famous people and he did lots of things that relates to taking a stand. Also the way Gandhi took his stand is really different from other people, and I was interested in how he was able to do that.

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Purpose Statement:

Mahatma Gandhi was considered as the father of India because he led the rebellions against British rule. Gandhi, along with his supporters, used as little violence as possible, but still succeeded in winning the independence. Together, they took a stand against the British rulers in a unique way and won.

However, problems still exist inside the country, and after a person from one of the two major parties assassinated Gandhi, India broke into two countries: India and Pakistan.

I would research about these topics:

1. The biography of Mahatma Gandhi

2. The independence of India

3. How did Mahatma Gandhi unite the country and rebelled against the British rulers?

4. The assassination of Mahatma Gandhi and the reasons behind it

Summary:

Gandhi was born in Porbandar, and was influenced by his deeply religious mother who was influenced by Jainism, an ascetic religion governed by tenets of self-discipline and nonviolence.

At the age of 19, Gandhi went to London for studying law. Then he worked at a Indian firm in South Africa. There, he lived with his wife and children for nearly 20 years.

Because he was treated unequally in South Africa by the Europeans, he started teaching local people about his idea of passive influence. His first resistance movement lasted for 8 years, with supporters imprisoned or even shot. But because no one gave up, the government of South Africa accepted him.

Then he went back to India and led the independence movement. He gathered many supporters and carried out the movement without using any violence: They first replaced foreign factories with local ones and created an independent economy for India. They also started salt manufacturing that helped poor people in India.

After the Labor Party took power in Britain in 1947, negotiations over Indian home rule began between the British, the Congress Party and the Muslim League. Britain granted India its independence but split the country into two dominions: India and Pakistan. Gandhi refused and encouraged Muslims and Hindus to unite. However, because of this, he was murdered by supporters of the split.

Relation to theme: Gandhi took a stand because he took a firm position on the independence of India. Taking a stand doesn’t mean to fight against something using force but also other strategies. Gandhi did all he could to keep the country united and reach independence without violence, including fasting. He had lots of supporters, including Muslims and Hindus, and they worked together to win their right for home-rule. The protests aren’t as dramatic as other rebellions that included wars, but that is what makes Gandhi unique.

Citations:

"Gandhi Leads the Salt March, 1930." Historic World Events. Detroit: Gale, 2012. World History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

Wolpert, Stanley. "Gandhi, Mahatma M. K." Encyclopedia of India. Ed. Stanley Wolpert. Vol. 2. Detroit: Charles Scribner's Sons, 2006. 119-125. World History in Context. Web. 18 Oct. 2016.

"The Assassination of Gandhi, 1948." EyeWitness to History - History Through the Eyes of Those Who Lived It, www.eyewitnesstohistory.com/gandhi.htm. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

Birkey, Betsy J. "Indian Independence: 1947." Then Again WebChron, 10 Sept. 2003, thenagain.info/WebChron/India/IndiaInd.html. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Gandhi Assassinated - Jan 30, 1948." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/gandhi-assassinated. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"India 1900 to 1947." History Learning Site, www.historylearningsite.co.uk/modern-world-history-1918-to-1980/india-1900-to-1947/. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"India and Pakistan Win Independence - Aug 15, 1947." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/this-day-in-history/india-and-pakistan-win-independence. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Mahatma Gandhi." Bio, A&E Television Networks, 2 Oct. 2015, www.biography.com/people/mahatma-gandhi-9305898. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Mohandas Gandhi - Facts & Summary." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/topics/mahatma-gandhi. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

"Salt March - Facts & Summary." HISTORY.com, www.history.com/topics/salt-march. Accessed 19 Oct. 2016.

Personal Interest: During summer vacation I was asked to watch the movie about Gandhi, so I already knew a little bit about him. I am interested in how he motivated the people in India and tried to unite all of them. Gandhi was different from all other rebellions, he did things peacefully, which is quite different from what I learned before that all people must fight. I also have questions about why the country broke up at last.