How The Black Panthers Revolutionized Healthcare In The U.S.

Story by AJ+
Written and Produced: by Omar Duwaji, Dylan Bergeson, Imaeyen Ibanga

Guns, berets and leather jackets are what many folks typically associate with the Black Panther Party. But the Black Panthers were instrumental in bringing healthcare to neglected communities. The reason you may not know about it? A covert government program tried to bury it.


Bill Whitfield of the Black Panther chapter in Kansas City serves free breakfast to children before they go to school, April 16, 1969. (Photo by William P. Straeter AP)

COINTELPRO, or “Counter-Intelligence Program,” was a propaganda and surveillance operation that the FBI used to target activists, political groups and minorities. Of the 290 operations carried out by COINTELPRO, the Panthers were targets of 245. The program was designed not only to ruin the Panthers' image, but also to cripple them financially and keep them from carrying out their social and health programs.
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Read more:

1. New York Times. “Reconsidering the Black Panthers Through Photos.”
https://lens.blogs.nytimes.com/2016/09/08/reconsidering-the-black-panthers-through-photos-stephen-shames/

2. National Geographic. “The Black Panthers: Revolutionaries, Free Breakfast Pioneers.”
http://theplate.nationalgeographic.com/2015/11/04/the-black-panthers-revolutionaries-free-breakfast-pioneers/

3. Jacobin. “The FBI’s Secret War.”
https://www.jacobinmag.com/2016/08/fbi-cointelpro-new-left-panthers-muslim-surveillance