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Dedication

To the ancestors, the nameless ones who were dragged to living hells in shackles: “strangers in a strange land.”

To those young idealistic souls who wore the black and the blue. To those who sold papers in the dead of night, in smoky bars, and in the freezing grips of the wind (especially in the East). To those loving women and sensitive men who rose from their beds at five a.m. to prepare hot breakfasts for schoolchildren from coast to coast.

To Huey, and Eldridge, who are now with the ancestors. To Captain Reggie, to D.C. and B.C., to Pink, to “Stretch” Peterson, to Rene Johnson, to Jintz, to Gladys, to Billy O., to Bullwhip, to Sista Bernice (who became Safiya), to Zayd Malik Shakur, Afeni Shakur, Assata Shakur (the Shakur tribe); to Freddy Nolan, to Frank Jones, to Kathleen, to Geronimo and the Jagas; to the New York 3, to Kiilu Nyasha, to Rita, to Frannie, to Rosemari Mealy, and all the remarkable women who were the luminous glory of the Party. To my former boss, Judi Douglass. To Sista Love. To those known and unknown (like Delbert), who served the Party and their people under arms, and paid the highest price. For those dozens who survived, and remain languishing in the devil’s dens still.

To Frances Goldin, who shopped around ’til she found a perfect fit for this work. To Noelle Hanrahan for sending valuable research materials. To those at South End Press, like Alexander Dwinell, Asha Tall, and the rest of the collective, who welcomed, shaped, and praised this project from its earliest incarnation. To my brave and insightful teachers and the thesis committee at California State University, Dominguez Hills; Drs. Myrna Donahoe, Joyce Johnson, and Frank Stricker, who approved an earlier version of this work for completion of an M.A.

To generations to come, who need to know that such a thing as the Black Panther Party was actually possible, and indeed vibrant.

I hereby dedicate this work.

Thank You.

Mumia Abu-Jamal

Waynesburg, Pennsylvania