It’s About Time: BPP Legacy

Publicist

• Jen Angel
  Phone: (510) 910-5627

Websites

• It’s About Time Committee

The It's About Time Committee -- represented by represented by Billy X Jennings, BPP historian and alumnus -- offers a travelling photo and newspaper exhibit of the Black Panther Party (BPP) and other underground social movements of the 1960s and '70s.

Currently there are four traveling exhibits available. Each exhibit could include an opening talk by Billy X Jennings, and/or a Black Panther-related film festival (either one-day or a weekly series); It's About Time would supply a copy of the films. To preserve the original newspapers on display, photocopies of select contents will be on hand for exhibit attendees to browse.

Exhibit 1: The Early Years of the Black Panther Party: 1966-1969

This exhibit focuses on the beginning of the BPP. Photos include Panthers at the Capital in Sacramento, Free Huey rallies, rallies at Bobby Hutton Park, and photos of the Panthers' Free Breakfast Program. Also included in the exhibit are Panther buttons from that period, posters, and other material produced by the BPP.

Exhibit 2: Serving the People: The Social Programs of the Black Panther Party

The BPP started and sponsored many programs to serve the community. This exhibit highlights this important work. Photos will show the Free Breakfast Programs (a predecessor of today's school breakfast programs), the Bussing to Prison Program, the Free Pest Control Program, the Free Medical Clinics, Voter Registerion, Free Food Giveaways and more.

Exhibit 3: The Black Panther Party Newspaper Exhibit

The BPP newspaper was the voice of the Party. The paper was started in 1967, and continued until 1980 with over 600 issues printed over that time. The It's About Time archives contain over 500 issues of the BPP newspaper; 50 issues have been selected for this exhibit. The exhibit will also have 20 photos showing Panthers working on the newspapers in varies stages of production. Many of the newspapers have the art of Emory Douglas on the back cover.

Exhibit 4: Underground Newspapers of the '60s and '70s

The archives of It's About Time also include rare and hard-to-find "underground" newspapers that chronicle the social movements of the '60s and '70s. This exhibit includes issues of the Berkeley Barb, Berkeley Tribe, Chicago Seed, The Other (New York), the BPP newspaper, The Militant, Good Times, Hard Times, and The Rat (also out of New York). The exhibit includes 40-50 newspapers and buttons.

In addition, any of the Black Panther Party exhibits (1-3) can be customized to focus on the BPP legacy of a particular city or geographic region.

About Billy X Jennings and It's About Time

Billy X Jennings joined the Black Panther Party (BPP) straight out of high school in the summer of 1968. He was a 17-year-old Laney College student. Early on, he helped start several school breakfast programs and taught political education classes. He was then transferred to the National Headquarters and worked as an aide to Central Committee members. In 1970, he became a personal aide to Huey P. Newton. He worked with Newton until 1972, when he began work on the Bobby Seale for Mayor Campaign, opening and operating the main campaign office. Even though Seale lost, the election changed Oakland and opened the door for the first Black mayor and other city administrators. In 1973, Jennings helped the BPP open and operate the Oakland Community School. He worked as a program director at the school until leaving the Party in 1974.

After leaving the BPP, Jennings worked many jobs, but it wasn't until 1995 that he really returned to his roots. The It's About Time Committee was formed by BPP supporters and former Party members to preserve and promote the legacy of the BPP and its programs of community survival pending social change. "We have the responsibility to place our own experiences into historical context; otherwise, the legacy of the Black Panther Party will be ignored, dismissed and distorted by today's commentators and tomorrow's historians." In addition to publishing a popular newsletter (from 1997 to 2004) and website, the Committee has organized reunions of BPP alumni; an annual Bobby Hutton Day in Oakland; and many film festivals and educational forums on BPP history.

Jennings, a historian of the Black Panther Party who knows the BPP "from the inside out", has compiled several photo and newspaper exhibits culled from the extensive It's About Time/BPP Archives, which contains BPP-related memorabilia from all over the world, as well as a large collection of underground newspapers, buttons and other documents related to the struggles of the '60s and '70s in general. These exhibits reveal in pictures — undeniable visual proof — an oft-hidden history of the BPP, dispelling myths and encouraging viewers to seek truths for themselves.