Media. His documentaries include i am a man, black masculinity, in america, beyond beaten rhymes and soul food junkies. In october, 1966, as you all know, bobby seale and hughie p. Newton established the original black Panther Party in oakland, california. [ cheers and applause ] seale was the founding chairman and National Organizer from 1966 to 1974. Seales an author, educator and tireless advocate for the legacy of the black Panther Party. Stephen shames is a student at the university of california berkeley, first encountered and photographed bobby seale in april of 1967, in an antivietnam war rally. Seale became a mentor to shames, and shames became the most trusted photographer to the party, remaining by seales side during his run for mayor of oakland in 1973. Stephen shames is the author of nine monographs, the latest power of the people, the black panthers, coauthored with bobby seale. He creates awardwinning photos for advocacy organizations, the media and museums. Steves images are in the International Center for photography, the bancroft library, university of california at berkeley, the museum of fine arts in houston, the Philadelphia Museum of afrt, the Ford Foundation and many other notable institutions. Steve has been profiled by People Magazine and cbs sunday morning. Before i turn the conversation over to byron hurt, or moderator, Stephen Shames will take us through a few photographs. And as we invite Stephen Shames to come out, im going to ask one more time that we silence our cell phones, no flash photography, and following the conversation there will be a q a opportunity. And they will bring the mics around. We ask that you use these mike migs because we are archiving this for our archive purposes, and documenting this for archive purposes. Let me recognize any black panthers who are in the room this evening. [ cheers and applause ] please welcome Stephen Shames. [ applause ] yeah, thank you all for coming. As you all know, the black Panther Party was a Political Party that ran candidates for office and had more than 50 community programs. What im going to do briefly before we start is show you some pictures from the book that bobby seale and i did to commemorate the 50th vrsz of the black Panther Party. The first picture is really, why was there a necessity for a black Panther Party. Obviously in what we think of as the richest nation in the history of humankind, there was poverty, theres racism, there were a lot of issues. And the black Panther Party started to deal with those issues. One of the issues was police brutality. And in the first issue of the black panther paper, what youre seeing here, denzel dahl was shot in richmond. And that was really one of the first issues that the black panthers addressed. Obviously thats all been solved, as we know. The picture on the right is bobby seale selling redbooks. Thats actually the first picture i took of any black panther. And thats when i met bobby seale. They were selling redbooks, and bobby will probably tell you more about that. Shortly after the panthers were founded, huie newton went on trial and free newton came about. There are some panthers in the park which has been renamed bobby hutton park. And there is chairman bobby seale speaking in the park. Kathleen cleaver with some panthers. And kathleen spoke a while ago here. And she was a leader of the panthers. The panthers were on the forefront of a lot of issues. One of them was womens rights, the other was gay rights. Although women were not equal back then, in the panthers, women had more leadership roles than they did in any other organization that i know of, left or rightwing organization, or even in the government. There were very few women in congress. Very few women judges. Very few people who werent white in positions of government, or power at that time. Angela davis is on the left. She was a panther briefly. And the picture on the right is important to me, because it just shows how the panthers resonated with the youth in the community. This is a cover of the book. Its one of my favorite pictures of the panthers. The panthers were very disciplined, very organized. They looked sharp. They commanded respect. They were very charismatic. Theres eldridge cleaver. And thats the crowd listening to eldridge cleaver. And anyone who wants to tell you that the panthers were kind of a marginal Organization Needs to look at the crowds that came out for them. The other thing thats interesting is i just put a little that isnt in my picture, but the panthers as early as 1968 ran candidates for office. They werent just out demonstrating, they were running people for office. And then very shortly after this, they started the community program. This is the Panther Office. After Hughie Newton was not convicted of firstdegree murder, in his trial, two Police Officers who i believe were intoxicated, shot up the office. You can see the symbolism. They were shooting at hughie. Bobby hutton was the first panther, little bobby hutton was 17 years old, was the first panther who was shot by the police. And this is a poster. That isnt my picture, but we put that poster in the book. On the right, youre seeing on the top, George Murray from San Francisco state. On the bottom is University California berkeley, where i was a student. The panthers were instrumental in two of the First Student strikes to establish black studies department. Bobby tells me that at merit college, it was actually the first black studies course that he started. But these were the First Student strikes to establish the departments. And really, the idea, again, back then, everything was about white people, mostly white males. And the contributions that women and minorities and other people in america made to this great country were pretty much ignored in the university, so the panthers were part of that struggle to establish black studies, which are now at many universities, and high school courses. People dont often remember that. Panthers. Survival programs. Again, the panthers had 50 or 60 Different Community programs. Some of which, such as the Breakfast Program, were later run by the Lyndon Johnson incorporated them into his war on poverty. But they werent doing it until the panthers did it. And one of the reasons they did it is because the panthers became incredibly popular. A gallup poll that came out gave them a 90 positive rating in the black community. Most lly because of the program. So the government figured, we better get in there and do that. Which, actually, in my opinion, they should have been doing all along. But they werent. The other thing that to me is very important about this picture, and i want you to really reflect on this, how often do you see a positive image of a black man in the media . Even today . When you turn on the news, when you look at the media. One of the things i learned when i was hanging with the panthers is, this was common. The panthers were interacting with the community, with youth. In a very positive way. And one of the things that i wanted to show in the book is to show that, to kind of counteract the image that the people had about than thers, that they were just a bunch of thugs running around demonstrating, which is what the government wanted us to believe. I dare anyone to try and take away those food bags from those two women. Some very militant revolutionary women sitting there. Thats, again, what i loved about working with the panthers, is they really energized the community. I dont know if you can read it clearly, but this is a list of the panther programs that they were running. On the top right is a senior program. The panthers in dangerous neighborhoods would escort seniors when they went shopping, so they didnt get robbed. And back then, Social Security checks were actually mailed. They didnt go directly into your Bank Account Like they do now. So, you know, seniors would often get robbed on the way to the bank and the panthers would escort them. Obviously with the panthers there, nobody would rob them. The clothing program. The free shoe program. The free medical clinics. Sick will cell testing. Panthers were the pioneers of bringing attention to sickle cell. The panthers went out in the community. They didnt make people come to them, to their clinics, they would go door to door, they would go out in the community. They started a really Excellent School that received an award from the california state legislature. And those are some of the panther kids. I just love this picture, pause its just the newspaper, the panthers started a newspaper. It was a communique, but also a way for them to engage in the community. Panthers, you know, would get up at 4 00, 5 00 in the morning, they would make breakfast for kids, then they would go to the office. They would sell the newspaper. They would do things all day. And then in the evening, they would have a political education class. And they had to read. And really, you know, learn about things. The Panther Offices were often like a community center. People would come. On the left, thats emory douglas, the panther artist, who created [ applause ] exactly. Emory is an incredible artist who is now just starting to get his due in museums, et cetera. Thats gloria abernathy. Theyre picketing mayfair. And in the forefront are three members of the lumpin, which was a panthers musical group. Here they were picketing a black business. They had helped bills liquors, the the black Liquor Stores werent often given favorable discounts, so when they were trying to be in business, they would discriminate against them. The panthers helped them. And in return, they asked that they donate to the program. When bills liquors refused to, they picketed him. You know, peacefully. And brought that to the attention of the community. Jamal joseph is on the right. Is jamal here . [ applause ] jamal is a noted filmmaker, and hes a professor at columbia university. Thats bobby speaking at a survival conference. These are some philadelphia panthers. Just, you know, out in the community. This is toledo. This is the office in new haven. When the fbi, under president Richard Nixon, started attacking Panther Offices and assassinating people in the middle of the night, the panthers fortified their offices. This was during bobbys trial, mayday, in 1970 in new haven. And there was a rumor that the office was going to be raided. And the crazy photographer stayed in the office all night with the panthers. But the police never came, luckily. Or maybe i wouldnt be here right now. New york. Fred hampton on the left. [ applause ] ive got to wrap up so ill go through real fast. New york 21. Some of the new york 21. Again, new york 21. This is the new york Panther Office in brooklyn. Again, why was the black Panther Party needed. You can kind of see, they were right there in the community. I put some pictures of some new york panthers in here to honor the new york panthers who are here tonight. And you can clap for them. [ applause ] on the left is david hilliard, who was a chief of staff. Thats Hughie Newton with elaine brown on the right. George jackson. [ applause ] George Jacksons funeral. And look at the turnout for George Jacksons funeral. Thats a safeway supermarket in the back. And that was kind of shut down for the funeral. The manager of the safeway called the police and said, could you clear the crowd out . And the police said, youre closed down today. The black Panther Office in oakland. Again, i love this picture, because it just shows, you know, these arent dangerous people. They were integrated in the community. People are coming by and talking to them. Hughie p. Newton. The picture, hughie and bobby, again, the type of access that i had, to be able to take pictures, that you didnt normally see in the media. These guys would crack each other up. Thats bobby when he was in jail. Erica huggins who was on trial with him in new haven. Thats big man. Big man, one of the original six original panthers. I love that picture of that kid. That kind of symbolizes the whole 60s, doesnt it. Bobby campaigning for mayor. I was with him every day during the campaign. 40 of the vote. Im ending just by showing some pictures from a rally in washington for some of the people today who have been shot, to kind of bring things up to date 50 years later. As we know, people are still having trouble breathing. Black lives matter. And, you know, here we are today. So thank you very much. [ applause ] thank you, stephen. Please welcome byron hurt and chairman bobby seale. Thank you very much. [ cheers and applause ] mr. Steele . [ applause ] thank you all very, very much. This is great. We havent even gotten started yet. This is wonderful. The images on the screen that you talked about were great. And so welcome. My name is byron hurt. Thank you very much for joining us this evening, which is going to be a great evening. We know its going to be a Great Exchange between two luminaries of the black Panther Party. So were really happy that you came out. And i want to give another shoutout to all of the black panthers who are in the building. One more shoutout to all of the black panthers. [ applause ] of course, to bobby seale. We dont have a whole lot of time, so lets get this started. I want to get right into it. Mr. Seale, i want to ask you about your relationship with mr. Shames, with stephen. Can you tell us the first time that you remember meeting mr. Shames . And talk about the encounter that you had with him. And the story about the redbook. It was simple. How this happened, hughie called up asking me how much money i had, and i said, i have 300, 400, why . Hugh was always broke. He didnt have any money. In those early days. Until i got him a job. I worked for the City Government of oakland, california, at the time. And hughie says, i know how we can raise some money. What . Have you been hearing on the news about the little redbook, 1 Million People holding their little redbook over in china, m mao tsetungs book. With eleft our guns at home. Of course, we were there to sell books, you know what i mean . Blah, blah, blah. My point is, we were up around the university of california selling these redbooks, ged your redbook, 1. Bang, i thought that was a pretty good profit. Which we needed bad. Because we were a ragtag organization. You have to imagine, i aint got but 13, 14 Party Members at this period. This was the early days of the black panther. Running out in oakland, berkeley, california. We sold those 200 redbooks. Went back and got 200 more and sold those in an hour. Got Hughie Newton a pump shotgun that he wanted. And paid the rent. On the office, what have you. Found out that there was going to be an antiwar, antivietnam war rally at the football stadium in San Francisco in two weeks. So i took my next paycheck from the City Government and ran over and bought 2,500 books, redbooks. And we took i guess i had about 16 of us selling redbooks at the stadium. There was more than 25,000 people there. And we sold all those redbooks that day. Get your redbook, 1, et cetera. A couple of days later, for the first time, we opened the book and read it. With ehad not even read this book. [ laughter ] we had not read this book. Now, the black Panther Party did not start out on the basis of marks ism. People think it did, but it didnt. Look at the tenpoint platform and program. It says nothing about marxism, et cetera. We called it the community cooperatives, promised 40 acres and two mules, et cetera. I knew no marxism. I had digested books like france minone, wretched of the earth, the works of dr. Herbert affleck. He documented 250 slavery votes in the year 1800 to 1857. And what he constituted a slavery vote involved ten or more slaves. He also went on to say, dr. Herbert aflac, in that work, that there was lots of resistance involving less than ten slaves of one kind or another. On the part of black folks during slavery. That blew my mind when i understood that. Because the old notion that blacks were just do sill and sit around, that is a prop oh gags of history away. I forgot in english class, in high school, one of the teachers said, well, you know, i guess the slaves could have enjoyed themselves somewhat. Because they would sit up sometimes on the stoop and play the banjo, you know what i mean . That kind of stuff. What im digesting in the early 1960s is its different. I digested wb boyces black reconstruction. To learn 168,000 black men was enlisting in the Northern Union army to kick the confederates butts. 38,000 died. Very, very important piece of history for me. Because it showed me something. We are not docile, were not backwards, all the other crap that was going on. Black folks on every level took avenues, or whatever, whether it was the underground railroad, et cetera, a lot of them were killed for trying to escape from slavery, et cetera. They took every avenue to try to get out of slavery. And this is very important to understand that. Because what Abra