The Winston-Salem, North Carolina, chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP), an African-American revolutionary organization, was founded in Winston-Salem, NC in 1969 and active into 1978. The Winston-Salem chapter was the first Black Panther Party chapter to be formed in the South. Along with the New Orleans chapter, it was one of the two most significant BPP chapters to operate in this region. It is primarily remembered for its successful implementation of community service programs, which the national BPP called "survival programs." Focused on improving the lives of the African-American community in Winston-Salem, these programs included free breakfast program for local children, and the Joseph Waddell People's Free Ambulance Service.
Similar to most other Black Panther Party chapters around the country, members of the Winston-Salem chapter faced a great deal of harassment and criticism from the FBI, as well as from other law enforcement agencies, the K.K.K., and members of the Winston-Salem community.Black Panther Party, "Larry Little on ‘Squeaky's’ Death List: No. Carolina B.P.P. Head Threatened by K.K.K.," The Black Panther, October 17, 1975. All members of the Winston-Salem BPP chapter were African American. The predominantly white staff of the North Carolina chapter of the American Civil Liberties Union staunchly defended the Winston BPP in court and in the media.
Co-founders and party members Larry Little and Nelson Malloy gained important leadership experience with the Panthers and continued to be politically active in the city. Both were elected to the Board of Aldermen in Winston-Salem in later years.
In 2012, the city of Winston-Salem erected a historical marker in honor of the local BPP chapter, recognizing the group for its positive effects on the community during a time of social and political turmoil.
National Black Panther Party Background
The Black Panther Party (or BPP) was an African- American revolutionary organization active in the United States from 1966 to 1982. Founded in Oakland, California on October 15, 1966, by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, the party originally identified as the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, and called for the protection of Black neighborhoods from police brutality. Over time, the Party's beliefs and objectives evolved, and the Party developed as a Marxist group. It advocated arming all African Americans for self-defense, exempting African Americans from the draft and from all other sanctions of so-called white America, releasing all African Americans from jail because of bias in the system, and paying compensation to African Americans for the centuries of exploitation by White Americans during and after slavery.
At its peak in the late 1960s, the Black Panther Party had more than two thousand members nationwide, and chapters located in several major American cities, including New York City, Chicago, New Orleans, and Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
Platform The founders of the Black Panther Party, Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, created the Party's platform, called the Ten-Point Program. The Ten-Point Program consisted of ten statements advocating changes that would improve the lives of Blacks in the United States.
Origins in North Carolina Greensboro, North Carolina
Eric Brown and Harold Avent, two students at North Carolina Agriculture and Technical University, began to organize a Black Panther Party (BPP) in Greensboro in early 1969. Protests, altercations, and arrests motivated by the unofficial BPP in Greensboro caught the attention of Blacks all over North Carolina, with ideals spreading predominantly to Charlotte and Winston-Salem.
Charlotte, North Carolina Jerome Johnson, a student at Johnson C. Smith University spent the summer of 1968 in Oakland and joined the Black Panther Party there. When Jerome returned to JCSU for the 1968 fall semester he called a group of local activists together and along with Benjamin Chavis, Jr., a student at UNC Charlotte, a chapter of the Black Panther Party was organized in Charlotte. Some of the early members were Michael Laney, Stoney Nash, Rudolph Nash, Benjamin Harrison, Cheryl Davis, Fess Bradley, and several other high school and college students The group met at JCSU until an office was opened on South Turner Street, in the Smallwood section of Charlotte. Party members went on community patrols, sold the Black Panther newspaper, and briefly started a Free Breakfast for Children Program. Unfortunately, the criminal conduct of a few undisciplined members of the party prompted David Hilliard, the Chief of Staff for the Party to order the Charlotte Chapter to cease and desist with operations in 1969.
Winston-Salem, North Carolina Layoffs, walkouts, and pickets of the tobacco companies by their predominantly black labor force signaled Civil Rights activism in Winston-Salem as early as the 1940s. With rising activism in the 1960s and gains in federal legislation, in 1968 a group of Black youths, inspired by the North Carolina A & T students, gathered to discuss working on local racial issues and to meet welfare needs of the Black community. This group was led by Nelson Malloy and Robert Greer, and the members chose the name of Organization of Black Liberation. They hoped to affiliate one day with the Black Panther Party.
Intending to solve problems not addressed by the Civil Rights Movement, the group sought a "radical reconstructuring of the system." They were committed to change. The group worked for over a year in order to obtain a National Committee to Combat Fascism (NCCF) charter, distinguishing itself from their counterparts in Greensboro and Charlotte through their use of deliberate and meticulous political organizing. As the group awaited their NCCF charter, it encountered a period of relative inactivity due to its unofficial affiliation with the National Black Panther Party.
During that period, the unofficial Panthers worked to set up a free breakfast program, win order to provide breakfast to underprivileged school children, and promoted the sale of the Black Panther newspaper, which funded the group's official indoctrination. The group's official affiliation with the National Black Panther Party member cost three hundred dollars. They did not complete the affiliation until April 1971 due to a number of legal problems and harassment by law enforcement agencies.
High Point, North Carolina
A Black Panther Party Community Information Center opened at 612 Hulda Street in High Point in the Fall of 1971 and closed in 1972 due to constant local Police harassment. A confrontation between 20 heavily armed Police officers and four Black Panther members took place at the 612 Hulda Street Headquarters on February 10, 1971. Police Chief Laurie Pritchett stated about serving an eviction notice, oddly enough at 6AM, to the Panthers, "we went to the house hoping the use of force could be avoided." The 20 heavily armed Officers fired tear gas into the Panthers pad despite his statement and a fire fight ensued. the Black Panther High Point Four; Larry Medley, Randolph Jennings, George DeWitt and Bradford Lily were later convicted. George DeWitt was later acquitted of discharging a weapon during the shootout.
It is interesting that Police Chief Laurie Pritchett was also known for suppressing civil right demonstrators in Albany, Georgia in 1962. The late Martin Luther King stated of Pritchett, during a talk at Stanford University on July 12, 1962, "I sincerely believe that Chief Pritchett is a nice man, a basically decent man, but he's so caught up in a system that he ends up saying one thing to us behind closed doors and then we open the newspaper and he's said something else to the press."
The High Point Black Panther Party Community Information Center was short lived but served Free Breakfast for Children program and Free Clothing giveaway during its short period of operation. Most High Point Panthers who had been trained at the Winston-Salem Chapter returned to that city.
The location, 612 Hulda Street was demolished in the 1980s and renamed Taylor Avenue. Fairview Family Resource Center, 401 Taylor Ave, now sits in its place serving the local community and echoing the Panthers efforts and legacy.
Membership Charter mmembers
After its official sanction in April 1971, the Winston-Salem Chapter of the Black Panther Party had roughly twenty members and fifty regular volunteers, all of whom remained under heavy FBI surveillance. Robert Greer, a credited founder of the original group, eventually assumed the role of organization head. Other early members included co-founder Nelson Malloy, who later became a city councilman, as well as William Rice, Julius Cornell, Thurmond DuBoise, Jessie Stritt, Nathanial Shelf, Harry Tyson, and Larry Little, who eventually replaced Greer as head of the Branch in 1970. Other original members, David Bowman, John Moore, Grady(Papa Doc)Fuller and Jackie Peoples.
Larry Little A Winston-Salem native and founding member of this chapter, Larry Little assumed the position of organization head at the age of twenty. Little, a high school basketball star with no college education or political background, first became interested in the Black Panther Party as a teen when he listened to self-proclaimed Panthers from A & T speak at a rally. His interest in Black history, and determination to make a change, led to his rise as the leader of the group. (? after Greer's failure to devote himself fully to the work, and success of their chapter.) Little devoted himself fully to the Party and its success, traveling regularly to the Panther's central headquarters in Oakland, and getting the group more involved in local issues. Under Little's leadership, the branch reached the height of its success, due to his determination to make meaningful change in the Black community.
Little was arrested on July 20, 1970, for disorderly conduct, and attempting to incite a riot. The arrest occurred following an altercation with several police officers, who ripped down posters, hung by Little, reading, "I'm Black and I'm Proud." According to Little, the judge at his trial gave him the choice between quitting the Black Panther Party or going to jail; Little chose to remain loyal to the Panthers, and served thirty days in jail.
In May 1974 Little decided to run for alderman on the city council, in order to make changes in the city. He narrowly lost to his opponent, Richard N. Davis, an African-American incumbent. The election generated considerable controversy; Davis won with 646 to 566. Some observers believe that Little's political defeat in 1974 showed that many people still viewed the Panthers as a threat, not recognizing programs they had established within the system. Little sensed the decline of his BPP chapter and resigned as head of the organization in early 1976. Afterward, Little earned both undergraduate and law degrees, determined to have more tools for fighting injustice. Today, Little teaches as a tenured associate professor of political science at Winston-Salem State University.
Activities Community work