Newton Story, a 2001 film in which he portrays Newton.īill Whitfield, member of the Black Panther chapter in Kansas City, serving free breakfast to children before they go to school. “I mean, nobody can argue with free grits,” said filmmaker Roger Guenveur Smith in A Huey P. (Food wasn’t the only part of the BPP’s social programs they expanded to cover everything from free medical clinics to community ambulance services and legal clinics.)įor the party, it was an opportunity to counter its increasingly negative image in the public consciousness-an image of intimidating Afroed Black men holding guns-while addressing a critical community need. At its peak, the Black Panther Party fed thousands of children per day in at least 45 programs. Soon, the program had been embraced by party outposts nationwide. “They weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.” “The school principal came down and told us how different the children were,” Ruth Beckford, a parishioner who helped with the program, said later. School officials immediately reported results in kids who had free breakfast before school. The program was simple: party members and volunteers went to local grocery stores to solicit donations, consulted with nutritionists on healthful breakfast options for children, and prepared and served the food free of charge. It began in January 1969 at an Episcopal church in Oakland, and within weeks it went from feeding a handful of kids to hundreds. (Credit: Bill Ingraham/AP Photo)įree Breakfast For School Children was one of the most effective. Brad Jones, member of the Philadelphia Black Panthers Organization, helping serve breakfast to youngsters.
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