My understanding is that the Black Panther party began as an all-male organization, and early party publications emphasized reclaiming Black masculinity, traditional gender roles, and envisioned the role of women as supporting men.

However, by 1969 the party had declared the equality of men and women, and articulated the concept of "Womanism".

Can you talk about the internal discussion in the Black Panther party about the role of women? Were there particular women Panthers who pushed for a change in the organizations ideology regarding women?

And how did the Black Panther's ideology and role of women in the party change after 1969?

Thanks!

In what sorts of ways did black women come into the Black Power movement? Was it different in any way than black men?

Thanks for joining us!

Hi Ashley! It's an honor to have you here. The work you're doing is very commendable and I hope you're able to continue making progress in further your studies and spreading awareness on these topics.

My name is Kyle Pittman and I am Nez Perce and Yakama, Indigenous Tribes located on the Plateau in the Northwest of the United States. My studies focus on similar topic areas as yours, but from the Indigenous side of things.

My questions are:

1. To what degree do your studies cross over into Indigenous scholarship/fields and do your efforts see you collaborating with Indigenous peoples or movements?

2. To what degree do you interject ideas with Indigenous roots into your teachings, if at all?

Thank you again for joining us!

I’ve read that during the Great Migration, one of the largest populations to move was single women rather than entire families. Is this still supported? How were these more Southern migrants viewed by the more established Black communities in the urban North?

One of the really notable movements in the Black Panther party was men arming themselves and carrying guns openly. Did many women activists do this as well?

What advice would you give to a high school history teacher planning a Black History Month curriculum?

Another question. What kind of career can you get by majoring in History? I love history but I’ve heard that’s not the right way to go.

Hello Dr. Farmer, thank you so much for taking time out of your day to be here with us!

My question is about the historical consciousness of black women. In the movements you've researched, who were the historical black women that were brought up by leaders and members? What does it tell us of the ideas that the movements/organizations had of themselves and of their own historical heritage?

One of the most intriguing women you discuss in Remaking Black Power is Black Panther artist Tarika Lewis (a.k.a. Matilaba), who was not only one of the first women to join the party but did so at age sixteen. Beyond generalities of "young," how did age factor into women's decision and ability to join radical movements? How did older women contribute, and did any girl activists come out of Panther education programs? Did age function differently for women than men?

Thanks for hosting this AMA (and writing such an engaging and timely book)!

Thanks for stopping by!

I'm taking a graduate level class on slavery, and one of the books we read was Dr. Stephanie Camp's Closer to Freedom: Enslaved Women and Everyday Resistance in the Plantation South. I and many of my fellow students found the book fascinating. How has it been received in the academic community?

Thank you so much for doing this AMA, and congratulations on your work! If you could change or revamp one aspect of how people talk about black women's involvement in Black Power movements, what would it be? Is there any particular undertaking or individual whose history interests you but that routinely gets short shrift, either within your academic disciplines or in casual discussions of history?

As an American white guy who loves history and feels like he has not learned enough about American history not about white guys, where should I start? Any particular book or historical figure?

Other than yours, obviously. That's a prerequisite

​ ​​ ​​ ​​ ​​Thanks a lot for doing this fascinating AMA!

The Latino civil rights movement at this time also featured highly visible female leaders like Dolores Huerta. Do you know of any influence of or exchange between female Latinx and Black Power activists - or more generally between both movements? In a somewhat similar vein, was there interaction or was solidarity expressed with Native American struggles? Thank you in advance.

In a recent discussion on another subreddit, a poster cited the Combahee River Collective as influential, and as the probable originators of the term identity politics in their Statement (linked for the benefit of other readers who may be unfamiliar with it). As a group they don't seem to be that well-known - although Audre Lorde (whom, I learned through Wikipedia, was one of the members) is well-known in her own right. (I am British, so this may be another reason I hadn't heard of them before.)

It would be interesting to hear how they're seen in the field (are they unjustly neglected by popular history?) and where they fit in the context of better known movements before and after, such as Black Power and Critical Race Theory.

Thank you so much for doing this AMA & thank you for your work!

Question: When you were researching/writing this book, how did you feel? Were you angry with how women, specifically black women were viewed/treated? Were you happy with the progress you felt has been made? Did you feel defeated or hurt by the language that was used to reference these women? I find it difficult sometimes to look through primary sources on certain issues because it can be easy to internalize past attitudes or issues sometimes.

Thanks again!

Firstly, I want to say thank you for doing this ama. As a history student it's awesome to see! I went from a hbcu to a pwi where our history is basically a footnote. At Tuskegee our history was at the forefront! There was a black inventors class, black women's history class etc and here there's barely a non white American focus at all and the word intersectionalism barley has a meaning. So I'm definitely intrested in hbcus, do you know of any black women who came from hbcus who were prominent in the black power era?

is there a black woman in history who you feel isn't talked about enough?

Lastly, can you talk about your methods of research? How did you do it? What resources did you use? What do you feel your book is saying other books or people before it haven't Said?

Thanks so much!

(I am currently trying to motivate my niece to study, we hope you can help.)

We always hear of women in science, Marie Curie and other women contributing. Can you mention a couple of influential African-American Female scientists?

Madam C.J. Walker became not only the first self-made female millionaire in America but also spoke out against racial injustice and used her immense wealth to support the NAACP and other activist organizations. What was the contemporary response to her activism from white society? And how significant was her role for early 20th century civil rights, both racial and feminist struggles? I feel like she's been overshadowed most prominently by Washington and DuBois during the Progressive Era, at least in what I was taught in school.

Thanks for doing this AMA.

How long did it take to write your book?

Let's talk about Shirley Chisholm! How did she influence the next generation of women and black politicians? What lessons should we learn from her?

Thanks you for taking time out to answer questions. I'm currently reading Thomas Sowell to get a perspective of black issues from the other side of the isle and the evolution of the black family is one topic I'm really interested in. In one excerpt Sowell states:

As of 1960, 51% of black females between the ages of 15 and 44 were married and living with their husbands, another 20% were divorced, widowed, or separated, and only 28% had never been married. Twenty years later, only 31 percent of black women these age brackets were married and living with their husbands, while 48% had never been married. By 1994, an absolute majority--56%--of black women in these age brackets were never married and only 25% were married and living with their husbands. Accordingly, while two-thirds of black children were living with both parents in 1960, only one-third were by 1994. While only 22% of black children were born to unmarried women in 1960, 70% were by 1994

So from your perspective could you explain why after an era dedicated to civil rights was also an era when the black family disintegrated the fastest? Also what factors do think contributed to this and made the black family unit weaker as opposed to when African Americans were under much more tribulation?

With the success of the movie Black Panther, and all of the positive reception it is seeing nearly universally, but especially within the black community, what do you feel like was the most progressive aspect of the film? What do you feel like could have been better portrayed? What are some earlier examples of empowering black women in film and television that you feel were not as recognized because of the subject matter or time it was released? And finally, using the history of both women and African Americans for equality, what can people do to support and effect chance while not encroaching on your own empowerment?

Dr. Farmer, you mentioned in a previous answer that there hadn't been much discussion of the art and culture side of the subject - I'd love to hear about that. Can you touch on the art surrounding the Black Power movement? I'd also be interested to hear if you think the art of the era is intrinsically tied to the movement or not (ie one can't truly understand a piece without the context of the Black Power movement), but that's two questions. Thanks again for doing this!

This was an awesome AMA. I didn’t have any specific questions but I learned a lot reading the thoughtful questions and answers.

Another question:

How did black radicals draw upon the traditions of 20th-century communism in constructing their ideologies?

I've heard it said by some older black folks that one of the reasons some of the left-wing activists never became as firmly established is that the anti-religious and anti-clerical ideas embedded in socialist and communist ideology did not mesh well with the fabric of black communities in which churches played such a leading role in constructing local identities and social lives.

Do you have any thoughts on this matter?

Hello! Thank you so much for taking the time to answer some questions!

I have a particular interest in diving into LGBT history, and I was wondering if you could tell me if there was any kind of intersection between the Gay Rights/Lesbian movements and black feminism, especially in the 70s, and if so, where I could look for more information?

What's your opinion on Howard Zinn's work? I've heard criticism of his methodologies and focus, and am interested in your take on things, especially since much of Zinn's popular works were written before the modern cultural turn had really manifested.

Hi Dr. Farmer!

Thank you so much for taking time to share your knowledge and insights here. I have a question about literature and the reception of black heritage in the 70s/80s.

How much of an impact on the public perception of black women's history and heritage did Octavia E. Butler's novel Kindred have around the time it was published in 1979? Although it is now recognised as a seminal work in the modern discourse on black women's experiences in America pre and post Civil War, was it viewed this way at the time? In particular, how was it received in the black community?

For readers unfamiliar with this, Octavia E. Butler published Kindred, a book about an African American woman who is trying to get ahead as a writer in 1960s America but finds herself periodically time travelling to a plantation in Antebellum Maryland. Although Butler is often referred to as a science fiction writer, her corpus of work is very strongly tied to issues of race, gender and heritage.

Kindred in particular is praised for portraying a reasonably accurate view of the struggles African American women faced both in the mid to late 20th Century and in American slavery, as well as portraying the black women who survived these ordeals as the survivors they were.

Dr. Farmer, thank you for taking the time to join us and answer these questions. I'm awfully late to the party but one of my own if you happen to come back for follow ups :)

Insofar as it's possible to generalize, what was the relationship like between Black Power organizations and black churches at a grassroots, organizational level?

What were some major topics of contention / debate among women who were involved in Black Power organizations?

Have you studied the role of black women in Latin American countries such as Mexico and Peru? If so, what similarities and differences have you seen?

Good morning from Australia! Thanks so much for joining us and giving some really thoughtful and helpful answers to a diverse range of questions.

My question is: in your research and interviews, did women talk much about the music they listened to in the era? Do trends emerge in how they used music as expression or as bringing people together?

Additionally, the other day I was listening to a 1973 cover of ‘Something In The Air’ by Labelle (most famous for ‘Lady Marmalade’) and was surprised when about halfway through the song they segued into a cover of Gil Scott Heron’s ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televized’. I was wondering whether the overt sexuality of ‘Lady Marmalade’ was something of a political act in the context of the times just as the cover of ‘The Revolution Will Not Be Televized’ explicitly was. Would ‘Lady Marmalade’ have been seen that way at the time by the women you profile, or would it have been seen as basically just frivolous pop?

How did the Black Panther movement fund itself? What was the women's participation in fundraising and in controlling the money?

Are you aware of any anarchist tendencies in black history?

In 1973 Assata Shakur was apprehended in New Jersey and put on trial for murder, among other charges, and in 1977 was convicted of the murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster. This has many obvious parallels to similar trials of the time, like that of Huey P Newton.

Has your research uncovered a case for or against Assata Shakur? I have read that the prosecution was not required to prove that Assata firedthe fatal shot.

What are you opinions on the lack of standardization of history curriculum in American public schools? Also how do you think this affects the modern feminist and civil rights moments?

Before the 1960s, what was the most significant difference between black woman and white woman socially speaking? Could just be something you found interesting.

You've read a lot of writing at this point from some very interesting Black women. Who did you think had a perspective we could stand to consider or learn about nowadays?

Quick question: Not sure if this is your field of expertise but i'll give it a go. Intersectionality seems to be all the rage on the internet right now. Do you have any thoughts on what will be the next big concept or theorum to become mainstream that has come from black women.

Hi, thank you for doing this.

Would you be able to give some detail on exactly what kinds of activities women like Louise Thompson and Esther Cooper engaged in when they visited the Soviet Union? I've read quotations where they stated that those experiences were transformative for them but don't have any idea what they actually saw and experienced in the USSR.

I have another question, an old one actually. I've studied West Oakland some, but mostly the music scene and culture before the formation of the Black Panthers. For some reason I had it in my mind that the group was formed as a response to all the infrastructure projects that were being built in the neighborhood - the freeways etc. that were displacing a large amount of residents. I've found multiple supposed causes for the Black Panthers from other sources, but that one stuck with me - is there any truth to that concept? Thanks

Have you seen the documentary "Hidden Colors"? What are your thoughts on this documentary?

How was the relationship between black feminists and suffragettes? Did they join forces or was race separating them?

Hi, thanks for hosting this, I’ve never heard of the Black Power movement, can you elaborate on what it is? Is it somewhat like the Civil Rights Movement?

I used to live across the street from the original Black Panthers club house, which is now a bakery here in Oakland. There is still a sign a few blocks away on a street light that denotes Black Panthers activism in the neighborhood...cross street is 55th and Market, the sign being on the south-west corner if anyone is interested. Are there any books that you would suggest for someone like me to read an overall perspective on black activism? Also, who are some activists, being journalists/writers or street level activists that you look up to today?

Hello Dr. Farmer,

This might be a bit outside your field, but here goes. I'm a classically trained (though non-professional) opera singer. One thing I've noticed is that certain forms of modern 'black' (for lack of a better term) singing are closer to the classical forms than modern 'white' singing. For example, blues singing techniques are very close to opera techniques, and even the way, say, Drake sings is more 'operatic' than how Taylor Swift sings.

I mentioned this to a black bass I know and he claimed that a great deal of African America music was directly influenced by opera. He claimed opera was widely popular with African Americans in the second half of the nineteenth century but they weren't allowed to perform in opera houses. So they developed their own music in a similar style in their church choruses and clubs. And that African Americans quickly came to a consciousness about 'their' music and so have sought to preserve its forms more than white Americans.

How true is this? Could you give some more context?

Fellow USN alum here! So glad to see you doing such important work! ❤️

Hi Dr. Farmer,

I know I'm late to this, so thank you in advance if you have a chance to answer. The Brooklyn Museum recently made headlines for appointing a white woman as their new curator of African Art.

How important do you think it is for the gatekeepers of culture to be have a background representative of the culture that they are tasked with surveying, documenting, or surveying?

Hi, and thank you for doing this ama! I was wondering, what are your thoughts and opinions on cultural appropriation as seen in the context of black culture, including the use of certain words such as for instance the "n-word"? I understand that for instance cultural appropriation can be seen as very offensive, with good reason as well.

I'm sorry I am late to the party here, I have a question that should be right down your ally and probably pretty easy to answer. I was watching something a while ago and someone mentioned that Rosa Parks was a plant. That something similar had already happened somewhere else, perhaps not even in the U.S. And knowing full well what would happen Ms. Parks planned the incedent with civil rights pioneers at the time in order to cause growing awareness for the struggle. Is there any truth to this? Or am I just a gullible fool?

In Thomas Sowells "Black Rednecks and White Liberals" he asserts that much of modern black culture was influenced by former southerner slaves who migrated to urban areas after abolition (eventually displacing the freeborn northern cultures), and that much of the culture and language they brought was borrowed from the white southernors they lived among who were primarily decendents of immigrants from the rough and tumble borderlands of Britain. I think the main thrust of this book (and he didn't say this so I could be wrong) was that our racial divisions today are more of a cultural phenomenon than a skin color one.

I'm wondering how mainstream his ideas in this book are (especially about a "british redneck" culture) and if many of your colleagues agree with this or not?

Hi, thanks for doing this!

Please forgive me if my question is a little too broad but what are your thoughts on the ideology of Pan-Africanism and growing Pan-African sentiments throughout the world? My question was inspired in no small part by the resounding success of the Black Panther movie.

Good day Professor.

What were the numbers and demographics of the women who were active members?

What about Brazil? Had you studied, researched also the Brazilian Black Women's situation, movements, history? Or are your research field more focused on USA context?