ELON COLLEGE, NC – Bobby Seale, the co-founder and former chairman of the Black Panther Party, will speak at Elon College at 7:30 p.m. on Tuesday, Sept. 26 in McCrary Theatre, located in the Faith Rockefeller Model Center for the Arts. Sponsored by the Liberal Arts Forum, Seale’s speech is free and open to the public.
Seale is widely known for his role in the 1969 Chicago Eight conspiracy trial. His courtroom outbursts led federal judge Julius Hoffman to have Seale bound and gagged during the proceedings, setting off worldwide protests.
Today, Seale is active in a variety of social and economic pursuits. He is also author of the best-selling book, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton. In his speeches, he compares the activism of the 1960’s with the significant social changes of today, covering topics such as economic liberation, civil and human rights and the struggle for equality in South Africa.
Seale and Huey P. Newton co-founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. Seale was primarily responsible for the growth of the party, which advocated self-defense for its members, after Newton was jailed on manslaughter charges in 1967. The Party’s ideals and activities were so radical that it was assailed by then-FBI chief J. Edgar Hoover as “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States.” While the party gradually declined and disbanded in 1976, it has been credited with paving the way for many other grass-roots civil rights campaigns which followed.
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