The Panthers built survival programs that fed children before school, opened community health clinics, organized around sickle cell anemia, created schools that reimagined education, supported prisoners and their families, and advanced self-defense as both a political principle and a practical response to terror. They insisted that Black people had the right not only to survive, but to live with dignity, political clarity, and collective power.

The Party also understood that Black struggle in the United States was connected to liberation movements around the world. Its politics were international. Its vision was global. From anti-colonial struggles in Africa to revolutionary movements in Asia, Latin America, and beyond, the Panthers located Black freedom within a larger fight against imperialism, capitalism, and racial domination. That global analysis remains part of the Party’s enduring legacy, as does its insistence that political education, community care, and organized resistance must move together.

The Black Panther Party 60th Anniversary is rooted in that full legacy. This is not simply a look back at a historic organization, but an opportunity to engage the breadth of what the Party built, defended, and imagined. The 60th calls together veterans, scholars, organizers, artists, educators, and community members to reflect on the Party’s impact and to consider what its lessons demand of us now.