The British Black Panthers
The untold story of the years when Black Power came to Britain and forever left its mark - the coming together, political ideas, leaders and legacy.
Inspired by the American Black Panther Party, the British Black Panthers were founded in London’s Notting Hill in 1968 - the first Panther organisation outside the United States. Their mission was to change the terms of engagement about race in Britain, promote self-determination and challenge the British state.
Writer Kehinde Andrews, who launched the first UK Black Studies degree in Birmingham, meets key former Panthers and the generations that followed them, and - hearing from critics, artists and historians, drawing on a wealth of archive - explores their legacy.
Members included Darcus Howe, Altheia Jones-LeCointe, Farrukh Dhondy, the photographer Neil Kenlock and dub poet Linton Kwesi Johnson. The movement was inclusive, embracing members from Asian as well as West Indian and African descent. The Panthers were the new, multi-racial Black youth of Britain - children of immigrants, educated in British schools and more radical and defiant than their parents.
Contributors include poet Benjamin Zephaniah; former Panthers Farrukh Dhondy, Neil Kenlock and Beverley Bryan; historian David Olusoga; Mykaell Riley of Steel Pulse; US Black Panther leaders Bobby Seale and Elaine Brown; Ian Macdonald QC; and British rapper and writer Akala.
- Presenter: Kehinde Andrews
- Producer: Simon Hollis
- A Brook Lapping production for 主播大秀 Radio 4
Publicity contact: Radio 4 Publicity