Date of Graduation

2018

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Education (Ed.D.)

College/School

School of Education

Department

International and Multicultural Education

Program

International & Multicultural Education EdD

First Advisor

Susan Katz

Second Advisor

Emma Fuentes

Third Advisor

Darrick Smith

Abstract

The Black Panther Party was an iconic civil rights organization that started in Oakland, California, in 1966. Founded by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the Party was a political organization that sought to serve the community and educate marginalized groups about their power and potential. This study examined the seminal texts about the creation of the Party that were written by the Party’s founders: Seize the Time (Seale, 1970), Revolutionary Suicide (Newton, 2009) and War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America (Newton, 1980). Document analysis of these texts identified the main themes of preparation, connection, love the people, validation, serve the people, validate again, and evolve. Unifying these themes is a “recipe for revolution” that outlines the steps taken to create the Party which could provide a potential roadmap to be followed by other organizations today.

Critical Race Theory provided the theoretical framework for this qualitative study, with a focus on counter storytelling. The importance of storytelling was central to this work. Stories allow you to present important information to people without the classroom instructional feel. In this instance, the story was used to impart information about the Black Panther Party to pique interest in the topic and stimulate the desire for a deeper study and examination of the academic texts. A narrative was created that was inspired by My Dungeon Shook: A Letter to My Nephew, written by James Baldwin in 1963. The narrative is used to tell the creation story of the Black Panther Party to a new generation in a creative way.

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