Framing The Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise Of A Black Power Icon

Framing the Black Panthers: The Spectacular Rise of a Black Power Icon

A fascinating look at how the Black Panthers became symbols of black militancy in America."They've been calling us niggers, thugs, and hoodlums for 400 years, that ain't gon' hurt me, I'm going to check out what these brothers is doing."-Bobby Seale in 1967The Sixties may be over, but the Black Panthers-the ultimate symbol of black power, radical inspiration, and the excesses of the decade-live on. Books on the Panthers continue to be written, hip-hop artists continue to draw inspiration from them, and so many films are made about the Panthers that there is now an annual Black Panther film festival.In Framing the Black Panthers, cultural historian Jane Rhodes examines the extraordinary staying power of the Panthers in the American imagination by probing their relationship to the media. Rhodes argues that once the media and pop culture latched onto the small, militant group, the Panthers became adept at exploiting and manipulating this coverage-through pamphlets, buttons, posters, ubiquitous press appearances, and photo ops-pioneering a sophisticated version of mass media activism. Paradoxically, the news media participated in the government campaign to eradicate the Panthers while simultaneously elevating them to a celebrity status that remains long after their demise.Lucidly written and featuring many never-before-published photographs, Framing the Black Panthers is a breakthrough reconsideration of a fascinating phenomenon that is sure to receive wide attention. Review "An extraordinary and richly contextualized biography." -Journal of American History"Jane Rhodes? sensitive and insightful portrait of Cary will change the way we understand American intellectual history and the history of the black press." -Robin D. G. Kelley, author of Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination"An insightful and moving portrait of a determined and resourceful black woman who put all she had into ending slavery and securing full human rights for her people." -Darlene Clark Hine, past president, Organization of American Historians From the Back Cover "Informed by the deliciously subversive notion that minority group activists are capable of manipulating mass culture, Rhodes's wide-ranging study is a noteworthy addition to the literature on history and memory; on the African American press; and on Panther party self-representation."--William L. Van Deburg, author of New Day in Babylon: The Black Power Movement and American Culture, 1965-1975"By tracing the history of the Black Panther Party through the evolution of its popular imagery, Jane Rhodes has made a major contribution to scholarship. Her treatment of this controversial organization is well-researched, admirably balanced, singularly insightful, and a pleasure to read."--Clayborne Carson, professor of history at Stanford University and editor of the papers of Martin Luther King Jr. About the Author Jane Rhodes is Professor and Chair of American Studies and Dean for the Study of Race and Ethnicity at Macalester College, St. Paul, MN.