From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago

by Jakobi Williams

Overview

In this comprehensive history of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party (ILBPP), Chicago native Jakobi Williams demonstrates that the city's Black Power movement was both a response to and an extension of the city's civil rights movement. Williams focuses on the life and violent death of Fred Hampton, a charismatic leader who served as president of the NAACP Youth Council and continued to pursue a civil rights agenda when he became chairman of the revolutionary Chicago-based Black Panther Party. Framing the story of Hampton and the ILBPP as a social and political history and using, for the first time, sealed secret police files in Chicago and interviews conducted with often reticent former members of the ILBPP, Williams explores how Hampton helped develop racial coalitions between the ILBPP and other local activists and organizations.
Williams also recounts the history of the original Rainbow Coalition, created in response to Richard J. Daley's Democratic machine, to show how the Panthers worked to create an antiracist, anticlass coalition to fight urban renewal, political corruption, and police brutality.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781469608167
Publisher:	The University of North Carolina Press
Publication date:	02/28/2013
Series:	The John Hope Franklin Series in African American History and Culture
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	304
File size:	3 MB

About the Author

Jakobi Williams is associate professor of African American and African diaspora studies and history at Indiana University.

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments xiii

Abbreviations and Acronyms xvii

Introduction. The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party Speaks for Itself 1

1 The Political and Social Climate of Black Chicago, 1900-1970 15

2 The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party 53

3 Chicago and Oakland: A Comparative Analysis of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and National, Headquarters 91

4 The Original Rainbow Coalition 125

5 Law Enforcement Repression and the Assassination of Chairman Fred Hampton 167

6 The Legacy of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party 191

Notes 219

Bibliography 261

Index 279

What People are Saying About This

From the Publisher

Williams transforms the epic tale of the Illinois Black Panther Party into a compelling history. A gem of a book." —Komozi Woodard, Sarah Lawrence College

Williams provides a compelling, comprehensive, and much-needed account of Fred Hampton and the Illinois Panthers. In so doing, he documents the history of the Illinois Black Panther Party and the indelible imprint it left not only on Chicago, but on American politics as well." —Yohuru R. Williams, Fairfield University

Williams has produced the most comprehensive and thoughtful study of Fred Hampton and the Panthers in Chicago. He has given us a brilliant study of the anatomy of grassroots organizing across race . . . From the Bullet to the Ballot is more than a contribution to our local knowledge of the BPP; it will compel all Panther scholars to rethink or readjust the national narrative."—Robin D. G. Kelley, University of California at Los Angeles

One of the most significant, exhaustively researched, and conceptually sophisticated studies that I have read in quite some time. Williams' perceptive and well-executed study deepens our understanding of the roots of community and national coalition mobilization politics in the aftermath of the Civil Rights Movement that laid the groundwork essential to the future election of Barack Obama. His book is first rate." —Darlene Clark Hine, Northwestern University

Williams has produced an engrossing narrative of grassroots black urban politics during the era following the passage of landmark civil rights reforms. His account will compel subsequent historians to avoid simplistic generalizations distinguishing between the civil rights era and the black power era." —Clayborne Carson, Stanford University

Editorial Reviews

Recommended. Upper-division undergraduates and above." —Choice

A welcome addition. . . to the substantive literature on the history of the Black Panther Party and on the contested legacies of the civil rights and Black Power movements in the United States."—H-1960s

A fascinating work that everyone interested in the Black Panther party or racism in Chicago should read."—Journal of American History

A vital historical intervention in African American history, urban and local histories, and Black Power studies. . . . A mandatory addition to the bookshelves of students and scholars."—History: Reviews of New Books

A first-rate piece of scholarship. Anyone interested in social history, urban history, or the history of Chicago must read this work of history."—Journal of Illinois History

A book filled with passion and conviction. . . . This new book should be read by anyone interested in racism, civil rights, and public life in Chicago and the broader Midwest."—Middle West Review

Deserves a wide audience." —Michigan Historical Review

A major contribution to the literature and the definitive work on the Black Panther Party in the city of Chicago." —Register of the Kentucky Historical Society

He paints a clear and engaging portrait of an organization that successfully blended elements of civil rights strategy and direct individual experience with the aims and possibilities of a new era of black radical resistance."—American Quarterly

From the Publisher