Up Against the Wall: Violence in the Making and Unmaking of the Black Panther Party - Hardcover

Curtis J. Austin

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1557288275 ISBN 13: 9781557288271

Publisher: University of Arkansas Press, 2006

Synopsis

Curtis J. Austin’s Up Against the Wall chronicles how violence brought about the founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, dominated its policies, and brought about the party’s destruction as one member after another―Eldridge Cleaver, Fred Hampton, Alex Rackley―left the party, was killed, or was imprisoned. Austin shows how the party’s early emphasis in the 1960s on self-defense, though sorely needed in black communities at the time, left it open to mischaracterization, infiltration, and devastation by local, state, and federal police forces and government agencies. Austin carefully highlights the internal tension between advocates of a more radical position than the Panthers took, who insisted on military confrontation with the state and those, such as Newton and David Hilliard, who believed in making community organizing and alliance building their first priorities. Austin interviewed a number of party members who had heretofore remained silent. With the help of these stories, Austin is able to put the violent history of the party in perspective and show that the “survival” programs such as the Free Breakfast for Children program and Free Health Clinics helped the black communities they served to recognize their own bases of power and ability to save themselves.

About this title

About the Author

Curtis J. Austin is an assistant professor of history and codirector of the Center for Oral History and Cultural Heritage at the University of Southern Mississippi.

From the Back Cover

"We desperately need good historical scholarship about the Black Panther Party, and this strong history is a good place to start. Austin's focus on violence is a shrewd decision." Tim Tyson, author of BLOOD DONE SIGN MY NAME and RADIO FREE DIXIE

"This book powerfully demonstrates the centrality of violence in the historical trajectory and our historical memory of the Party A serious, sober, and probing contribution..." Waldo Martin, CIVIL RIGHTS IN THE UNITED STATES: AN ENCYCLOPEDIA and THE MIND OF FREDERICK DOUGLASS

Edition details

• Publisher: University of Arkansas Press
• Publication date: 2006
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 1557288275
• ISBN 13: 9781557288271
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 480