This exhibit introduces the history of LGBT people both inside and connected to the Black Panther Party in the 1970s, as well as its relationship with the post-Stonewall movement for gay liberation. The project charts the Party’s trajectory on LGBT matters from its founding in 1966, through its bitter split in 1971, to the end of its sole remaining chapter in Oakland, California, in 1982.

The reprinted items are drawn from several sources, including the Party’s newspaper, The Black Panther, which was published weekly for its first several years and then more sporadically. Other sources include queer and “underground” newspapers, as well as confidential Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) files released via requests from journalists under the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA).

The exhibit is also drawn from memoirs of Party members and supporters, as well as scholarly histories. In addition, I am fortunate to be part of a team of radio journalists from the Out-FM (outfm.org) collective at WBAI (wbai.org, 99.5 FM in New York City) who interviewed queer Party member Ericka Huggins on three occasions in the 2010s and 2020s and straight Party veteran Mumia Abu-Jamal in 2024. I also interviewed colleagues of the late bisexual Party member Kuwasi Balagoon and relied on a compilation of his writings.

The goal of the exhibit is to portray the Black Panther Party as an important part of 1960s-1970s freedom movements, which evolved under pressure by women’s and gay liberationists from anti-queer hostility to a positive (if uneven) force supporting the rights, freedoms, and aspirations of LGBT people.