Black Panther Women

You may have heard of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale, who founded the Black Nationalist organization in 1966. Within three years after their founding, female membership had expanded. You may not know about women who played pivotal roles in the group’s advancement: Kathleen Cleaver, Ericka Huggins, Assata Shakur, Afeni Shakur (mother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur) and other women helped hold the party together. The play examines the women’s personal challenges, opposition to their involvement with the group and the positions women held.

With the Black Lives Matter Movement’s emergence, the Black Panther Party’s role in the advancement of African-American causes takes on new relevance. Social justice advocates will reflect on strategies Black Panthers employed to affect change after seeing “Black Panther Women.”