Black Panther Party Badge - USA, around 1967
“The Black Panther Party (originally the Black Panther Party for Self Defense) was formed in Oakland, California, in 1966. The founding members were Huey P. Newton, Eldridge Cleaver and Bobby Seale. The Party’s original aim was to patrol black ghettoes and provide black communities with armed protection from police oppression. It later adopted more revolutionary goals, including the arming of all black people, their exemption from the Vietnam War draft, and financial compensation for slavery and exploitation.” ~ from P. Attwood’s exhibition at the British Museum which ran from July 22, 2004 to January 16,2005, entitled “Status Symbols: Identity and Belief on Modern Badges”.
