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If you had Breakfast in the Classroom at your school, you can thank the Black Panthers. 1/
The Black Panther Party created the "Free Breakfast for Children" program in the late 60s. Children could come in every morning before school and get a well balanced meal. They served around 20,000 meals a week in 19 different communities. 2/
"School officials immediately reported results. 'The school principal came down and told us how different the children were,' Ruth Beckford, a parishioner who helped with the program, said later. 'They weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.' 3/
"The children, many of whom had never eaten breakfast before the Panthers started their program,” the Sun Reporter wrote, “think the Panthers are ‘groovy’ and ‘very nice’ for doing this for them.” 4/
"Despite its successes, Federal authorities attempted to discredit and derail the Free Breakfast Program. Among other actions, authorities raided breakfast program locations while children were eating." 5/
“The night before [the first breakfast program in Chicago] was supposed to open,” a female Panther told historian Nik Heynan, “the Chicago police broke into the church and mashed up all the food and urinated on it.” 6/
"Ultimately, these and other efforts to destroy the Black Panthers broke up the program. In the end, though, the public visibility of the Panthers’ breakfast programs put pressure on political leaders to feed children before school." 7/
The Black Panther Party paved the way for Breakfast in the Classroom programs. The same day students learn a skewed history of the Black Panther Party is the same day students eat a free breakfast because of them. 8/
International chapters. Their newspaper. COINTELPRO. The Free Breakfast program is a small portion of the history of the Black Panther Party. Please continue to learn. Attached are a few sources. Feel free to add more. 9/
(2/ ….They served around 20,000 meals a week in 19 different communities.)
Info in 2/ came from historian Beverley Gage. Here is a clip of the documentary "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution." https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/free-breakfast-program/
Info in 2/ came from historian Beverley Gage. Here is a clip of the documentary "The Black Panthers: Vanguard of the Revolution." https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/free-breakfast-program/
PBS recently rereleased the entire documentary. It gives a great overview on the history of the Black Panther Party. It is also free on Amazon Prime. I highly recommend watching it. https://www.pbs.org/independentlens/videos/the-black-panthers-vanguard-of-the-revolution-full-film/
Quotes 3/ 4/ 6/ and 7/ came from this article. https://www.history.com/news/free-school-breakfast-black-panther-party
I also recommend "One Crazy Summer" by Rita Williams-Garcia. Her protagonist, age 11, frequents The People's Center (run by the Black Panther Party.) Garcia-Williams draws from personal experience to create a beautifully written and historically accurate story.
