Originally called the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the Black Panther Party was first founded in 1966 by Huey Newton amidst mass hatred towards the black community such as MLK and Malcolm This view led the Panthers to form alliances with radical whites, Chicanos, and third world groups. The Panthers adopted 2 main programs, one of which was that the Panthers organized a military-style group to police patrol in black communities. Sometimes even taking up arms to defend themselves from police brutality. The other program was invested in benefiting the community, for example by serving breakfast to children and medical clinics. Thanks to these programs, the Black Panther Party grew rapidly in the United States and attracted the attention of FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover. In 1967 Hoover launched a counterintelligence program against the Black Panther Party to end the Black Panther Party. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an original essay According to www.vault.fbi.gov The Black Panther Party is a black extremist group that “advocated the use of violence and guerrilla tactics.”” On October 28, 1967 the Black Panther Party was in decline when the leader Huey Newton was arrested and charged with the murder of a police officer, a charge later overturned on appeal in 1970. In 1968 former Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader Stokely Carmichael was asked to participate in the “free Huey” demonstrations by leaders of the Cleaver and Seale era. Carmichael instead challenged Cleaver's leadership, Carmichael's POV which emphasized racial unity instead of the Panthers' POV which was to emphasize the struggle of the lower classes and appeal to the white left. Other clashes between Carmichael and the Panthers led to a period of violence within the black activist community, such as in 1969, when 2 groups of activists were involved in a shooting on the UCLA campus, leaving 2 Panthers dead. In the early 1970s the Panthers were in another growth spurt when they were weakened by legal problems and attacks. Newton was released in 1970 and sought to revive the Panther Party by focusing on bringing communities together as they once did with free breakfast programs and participation in electoral politics. This attempt to revive the party ended in failure and in the mid-1970s many veterans were expelled from the group or left and while all this was happening Newton fled to Cuba due to serious criminal charges. Newton then returned to the United States in 1989 but was killed in a drug-related accident.