Black and white poster of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale

Item

Title
Black and white poster of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale
Description
In 1966, Californian college students Huey Newton and Bobby Seale (depicted in this poster) founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which became a prodigious force within the Black Power movement—and, for many white Americans, a significant threat to U.S. security. BPP members engaged in “copwatching” patrols, in which party members took advantage of their Second Amendments rights and the period’s open-carry gun laws to act as armed security for Black community members, who were often victims of police brutality. In direct response to white America's fear of the BPP's armed resistance, California Governor Ronald Reagan passed the 1967 Mulford Act, which repealed a law that allowed Californians to open-carry loaded guns without a permit. This 1971 poster features a photograph of Seale and Newton holding a Colt .45 handgun and shotgun, respectively, seemingly in defiance of the Mulford Act.
Creator
Black Panther Party See all items with this value
Publisher
Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture
Date
1971 See all items with this value
Type
Poster
Format
Lithographic ink on paper, 29 x 23 in.
Language
English
Identifier
Object Number: 2012.46.20
GUID: http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/fd58a70b3e1-decb-4093-b51f-9433d9eea7fb
EDAN-URL: edanmdm:nmaahc_2012.46.20
Subject
Black Power movement; gun laws; Huey Newton; Bobby Seale; Ronald Reagan; Civil Rights See all items with this value
Temporal Coverage
1971
Rights
This item is in the public domain under the laws of the United States.
Item sets
Race and the Second Amendment
Site pages
A Free State? The Second Amendment and Anti-Blackness in America’s Past and Present
Media
Black and white poster of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale

Linked resources

Item sets with "Related Item: Black and white poster of Huey Newton and Bobby Seale"
Title Class
Race and the Second Amendment Collection