Black Panther Party, Winston-Salem, North Carolina Chapter facts for kids
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 and members of the Winston-Salem community. 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.
Accomplishments
The Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party improved the lives of blacks in Winston-Salem by providing Blacks with necessary programs, and raising awareness about both local, and national racial issues.
Community work
The North Carolina Black Panthers committed the majority of its time to local public service work. In their earliest years, the Winston-Salem chapter worked to provide breakfast for school children, by distributing food donated by local businesses. The breakfast program was simple but popular, and successful. It excelled at providing children from poor families with an important daily meal, each morning during the school year. Later the chapter adopted several other inexpensive, yet highly effective community programs to help Winston-Salem's poorer residents. These programs included free pest control, a luxury typically beyond the financial means of a large number of Black residents, as well as free transportation to, and from, prison, for those who had incarcerated family members. The chapter's community outreach also included clothes drives, and inexpensive sickle cell anemia testing. They established a free ambulance service, considered to be one of the group's most successful accomplishments because, although healthcare costs posed a problem for low income Blacks everywhere, no other chapter of the Black Panther Party provided its community with a similar program, or solution. The free ambulance program in North Carolina administered Blacks with free transportation, and healthcare. During its final years, one of the Winston-Salem chapter's primary concerns was Black voter registration. According to the FBI, at their most successful registration drive, the chapter registered over five hundred new voters, making it the "most ambitious project undertaken by the NC chapter to date." In 1972, the Winston-Salem party, along with the National Black Panther Party began instituting policies to alter the public image of the party. The Winston-Salem branch followed the instructions given by the National Party by joining churches, as well as engaging with traditional Black community leaders, small business owners, and ministers, in an attempt to revolutionize the community, and bring about change by working through traditional legal institutions. This policy shift proved to be a success for the North Carolina branch, as it directly led to the development of several highly influential community programs mentioned earlier, such as the free ambulance program, as well as greater party support within the community. The previous, violent stance frightened more Blacks than it attracted, costing the chapter a large number of supporters in the community. The ideological change, referred to by Little as a shift "...from guns to shoes," helped the party to gain more support, but still was not enough to allow the Winston-Salem chapter to accomplish all of its goals.
Raising Political Awareness
The Winston-Salem chapter of the Black Panther Party raised awareness about its beliefs through its involvement with the Black Panther newspaper. The newspaper served as the chapter's primary source of income throughout its lifetime. By buying the newspapers from the national headquarters, at a relatively inexpensive price, the chapter could then resell them, in order to raise money for local programs, as well as inform the local Black community about Black Panther Party affairs nationwide. Not only did the Winston-Salem chapter raise awareness by selling the newspapers locally, in an attempt to inform the citizens of North Carolina, but they also wrote and published a large number of articles in the Newspaper about local affairs. The publication of these articles united the Black community by proving that all Blacks, not just Party members, were victims of brutality, and encouraging Blacks everywhere to join in the fight.
Legacy
The Winston-Salem chapter survived until 1978, making it the last-standing official branch of the Black Panther Party on the East coast.
Party
The legacy left behind by the Winston-Salem Panther Party differs greatly from legacies left by other Panther parties around the country because of its successful policy change. Arguably the most effective branch at implementing the community service approach outlined by national headquarters, the Winston-Salem panthers saw their success in service programs, rather than violent revolts and protests, making it a model of what the national organization wanted and envisioned. The branch, primarily remembered for its service programs, such as its free breakfast program and ambulance service, also gave poor Blacks in Winston-Salem a political voice. Blacks that once lived in fear of Klan members, felt empowered by the Panthers, and encouraged to stand-up, and defend themselves. The chapter, the first to form in the South, created a long-lasting legacy, firmly cemented in Black North Carolina history by the early 1980s, and recognized again in 2012 with the unveiling of a Black Panther Party marker commemorating the positive change made by the group.
Elected Officials
The activity of the Winston-Salem Black Panther's programs ended with the death of the party in 1978; however, the activism of its major leaders continued for many years. Several members of the Winston-Salem branch went on to become leading political figures, or influence public life in some way, such as Larry Little, who was referred to by the Winston-Salem daily newspaper as the area's most influential African American citizen, and Nelson Malloy, who served as North Ward alderman after Little. The success of the Winston-Salem Panthers later in life highlights the party's other major impact: serving as a training ground for Black elected officials.
