- unitid
-
{"value"=>"188268", "type"=>"local_mss"}
{"value"=>"Sc MG 1019", "type"=>"local_call"}
{"value"=>"b23682901", "type"=>"local_b"}
- unitdate
-
{"value"=>"1968-1973", "type"=>"inclusive", "normal"=>"1968/1973"}
- unittitle
-
{"value"=>"Black Panther Black Community News Service collection"}
- physdesc
-
{"format"=>"structured", "physdesc_components"=>[{"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"3 boxes", "unit"=>"containers"}, {"name"=>"extent", "value"=>"5.25 linear feet", "unit"=>"linear_feet"}]}
- repository
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"corpname\">Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division</span>"}
- abstract
-
{"value"=>"<span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> was founded in 1967 as part of the Black Panther Party's consciousness-raising program. It was the leading Black weekly periodical in the nation at the height of its popularity from 1968 to 1972. The newspaper released its final issue on September 16, 1980, two years before the Party's formal dissolution in 1982. The <span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> collection is made up primarily of news issues from <span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span>, but also contains a few issues of other progressive publications from the same time period."}
- langmaterial
-
{"value"=>"English"}
- origination
-
{"value"=>"Black Panther Party", "type"=>"corpname"}
- bioghist
-
{"value"=>"<p><span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> was the Black Panther Party's (BPP) official newspaper. It was also known as <span class=\"title\">The Black Panther</span>, <span class=\"title\">Black Community News Service</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Black Panther Intercommunal News Service</span>. Huey P. Newton (1942-1989) and Bobby Seale (1936-), who founded the Black Panther Party, started the publication in 1967 as part of the Party's consciousness-raising program. Selling newspapers was required of all Panthers and it was mandatory that Panthers study each issue before selling. The newspaper's purpose was to share up-to-date information about BPP activities, support for international revolutionary movements, and articles that reflected the Party's Ten Point Platform and Program.</p> <p>Emory Douglas, a graphic artist who also served as the Party's Minister of Culture, designed original artwork for the newspaper's covers. Rahn \"Ducho\" Dennis (1934-2014) was an early photographer for the newsletter. Past editors included Seale; Elaine Brown (1943-); Judy Juanita (1946-); Elbert \"Big Man\" Howard (1938-2018); Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998); David Du Bois (1925-2005); and JoNina Abron (1948-), who was the newspaper's final editor.</p> <p>The newspaper started as a four-page newsletter printed in San Francisco, but was circulated in major cities across the United States and internationally. By 1968, <span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> had grown into a full length, sixteen to twenty-eight page publication that distributed over 300,000 copies on a weekly basis. The Party published new issues on Wednesday evenings. It was the leading Black weekly periodical in the nation at the height of its popularity from 1968 to 1972.</p> <p>On March 13th, 1971 (vol. 6, no. 7), the newspaper was renamed <span class=\"title\">The Black Panther Intercommunal News Service</span> in commemoration of the Revolutionary Intercommunal Day of Solidarity for Political Prisoners on March 5th, 1971. The issue's cover notably features a \"Free Angela [Davis]\" illustration. The newspaper continued to print over 500 issues until its final issue on September 16, 1980, two years before the Party's formal dissolution in 1982.</p> <p><span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> popularized the use of news publications in progressive activist and political organizations. Similar publications from the late 1960s and early 1970s include student activist organization newsletters such as Students for a Democratic Society's (SDS) <span class=\"title\">New Left Notes</span> and <span class=\"title\">Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM)</span>; newsletters that centered Black blue collar workers like <span class=\"title\">Auto Workers Focus: Black Panthers Caucus</span>; and anti-war newsletters, such as <span class=\"title\">Black Unity</span>, aimed at Black soldiers based in Camp Pendleton in California. The publication also influenced other American leftist organizations such as <span class=\"title\">People Get Ready</span>, <span class=\"title\">People's World</span>, and even Eldridge and Kathleen Cleaver's <span class=\"title\">Right On: Revolutionary Peoples Communication Network</span>.</p>"}
- scopecontent
-
{"value"=>"<p>The <span class=\"title\">Black Panther Black Community News Service</span> collection consists of an incomplete run of the publication from 1968 through 1973 and a blank newspaper order sheet, arranged chronologically by volume and issue number.</p> <p>This collection additionally holds issues of Students for a Democratic Society (SDS)'s <span class=\"title\">New Left Notes</span>, <span class=\"title\">Black Unity</span>, <span class=\"title\">People Get Ready</span>, <span class=\"title\">Auto Workers Focus: Black Panthers Caucus</span>, <span class=\"title\">Right On: Revolutionary Peoples Communication Network</span>, <span class=\"title\">People's World</span>, and <span class=\"title\">Revolutionary Youth Movement (RYM)</span> in chronological order.</p>"}
- acqinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Purchased from Swann Auction Galleries in 2023.</p>"}
- processinfo
-
{"value"=>"<p>Processed by <span class=\"name\">Denise Mantey</span> in 2025.</p>"}
- date_start
-
1968
- keydate
-
1968
- date_end
-
1973
- date_inclusive_start
-
1968
- date_inclusive_end
-
1973
- prefercite
-
{"value"=>"[Item], Black Panther Black Community News Service collection, Sc MG 1019, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, Manuscripts, Archives and Rare Books Division, The New York Public Library"}