Emory Douglas
Black Panther Minister of Culture 1967–1980
Let’s start with the beginning of your involvement in the Black Panther Party. When did you make first contact with the party and what attracted you to the organization? When did you realise that here were a group of people who were genuinely committed to the practical advancement of their own community as opposed to just talking about advancement as an ideal?
Well, that was early 1967 here in San Francisco where I live. I was going to City College in San Francisco at that particular time and there were a lot of young people who were involved in activities, social concerns that were taking place on the campus, and they used to talk about going out to San Francisco State College which was maybe 10 minutes drive from the City College. We used to go out there to get involved in the different cultural activities that were going on. Some people knew I had these art skills because I used to work in the Black Arts Movement. I did simple props for Leroi Jones’ plays during that time (now known as Amiri Baraka) plus created the events information leaflets.
Many of the black students at San Francisco State were involved in community events so they were having a meeting because they were planning an event and wanted me to design and do the art work for the poster announcing it. I went to the meeting and they were talking about bringing Betty Shabazz, Malcolm X’s widow, to the Bay Area to honour her. At that particular time they were also talking about some young men coming over to do security. At this time no one had ever heard of the Black Panther Party. The only thing I had heard were some guys were patrolling the community in Oakland.
They came over to the next meeting, about a week later and acknowledged that they would be a part of the event dealing with the security. It was after that meeting that I knew that’s what I wanted to be a part of. So after they gave their talk I went and talked with them and asked how could I join the Black Panthers... that was Huey Newton and Bobby Seale who gave me their phone numbers. I used to call Huey’s house early in the mornings and then catch the bus and go to Huey’s house and hang out. He would take me around the community and introduce me to folks, and then we’d go by Bobby’s house. That was my initial involvement back then.
© 2008 EMORY DOUGLAS -ARTIST RIGHTS SOCIETY- (ARS)
Now, my desire for that came as a young person growing up, like many young folks who weren’t living in the south, watching on TV during the Civil Rights Movement of the 60’s. You’d see the civil rights marchers being brutalised and beaten simply because people wanted to sit down and have their lunch at the lunch counter, or sit on the bus with their children and they were being refused those basic human rights... The lynchings and the disrespect as it relates to name calling and all the brutal things that took place during that particular time. Being spat on and being water hosed and dogs being sicked on the civil rights marchers, all of those things were a part of my mental makeup that made me want to do something. Because of course like many others I respected the civil rights movement, but it just wasn’t something I was able to do, to turn the other cheek. Of course that’s a very courageous thing to be able to do but of course I wasn’t one of those who felt at that time capable of doing that.