"To Serve, Educate, Unify, and Organize": The Black Panthers' Free Breakfast Program and COINTELPRO in the United States, 1968-1971

Authors

Joshua Sinclair, State University of New York College at Buffalo - Buffalo State CollegeFollow

Abstract

The creation of the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren marked a shift away from the community defense origins of the Party, focusing more on community outreach and unification. The social and political implications of the Program – expanded interest by black and white moderates, and growing popularity of the party in general – made the breakfasts and the Party targets for the FBI’s Counter-Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO.) With the end goal of neutralizing the Panthers in mind, the FBI had a prime target to focus this work in the Breakfast Program.

Recommended Citation

Sinclair, Joshua (2023) ""To Serve, Educate, Unify, and Organize": The Black Panthers' Free Breakfast Program and COINTELPRO in the United States, 1968-1971," The Exposition: Vol. 7: Iss. 1, Article 4.
Available at: https://digitalcommons.buffalostate.edu/exposition/vol7/iss1/4