We Black Panthers poster

This poster presents the manifesto of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense created in 1966 in Oakland, California by political activists Bobby Seale and Huey Newton. Seale and Newton were inspired by Malcolm X, a civil rights leader assassinated in 1965, and adopted his slogan "Freedom by any means necessary" for the Black Panthers. The poster quotes Bobby Seale's book Seize the time: the story of the Black Panther Party published in 1970.

Seale was the Chairman of the Black Panther Party and Huey Newton was the Minister of Defense. Seale is wearing a 'Free Huey' badge in the photograph as Huey was jailed in 1968 for voluntary manslaughter. He was freed in 1970 following huge protests calling for his release.

The Black Panthers inspired others around the world, including the Polynesian Panther Party formed in Auckland in 1971 to combat governmental and societal neglect and ignorance of the needs of the growing Pacific communities in New Zealand.

This poster was owned by Ronald Smith, a peace activist based in Wellington, New Zealand, demonstrating the global connections between protest movements and activism in the second half of the twentieth century.