A Woman's Place in the Revolution Gender and Sexual Politics Within the Black Panther Party

Abstract

Black women played decidedly crucial roles in developing, organizing, and leading the struggle for liberation within the Black Panther Party (1966-1973); yet, their revolutionary roles were constantly debated and ultimately over-sexualized, underestimated, and abused. The reclamation of black manhood was the very impetus of the Black Panther Party’s early revolutionary mission. This emasculation of black men was widely theorized as a product, not only of racial oppression, but of overly-assertive, matriarchal black women; thus labeling the role of women as potentially counterintuitive to the party’s goals and providing a justification for their abuse. Largely due to Eldridge Cleaver’s influence in the party, the fetishization of militant Panther women was also justified as a form of restoring respect and desirability to black womanhood. Though the party’s chairmen Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale attempted to eradicate the abuses and align themselves with women’s liberation, their efforts were minor, inadequate, and based on a vague argument that ultimately shifted the blame away from themselves. Even so, either through careful navigation or disruption of the rigid patriarchy, many women were still able to obtain leadership roles within the Black Panther Party, including Elaine Brown and Kathleen Cleaver who became members of the party’s Central Committee. Throughout its duration, black women have been indispensable to the Black Panther Party and have continued to advocate for a more inclusive freedom struggle.