Cassidy, Williams P., and Thornton, Brian. “Black Newspapers in 1968 Offer Panthers Little Support.”  Newspaper Research Journal Vol. 29, No.1 Winter 2008: pages 6-20.

Williams P. Cassidy is a professor in the Department of Communications at Northern Illinois University.  Brian Thornton is his research partner and a co-contributor to many academic journals including Newspaper Research Journal.

This article seeks to understand the relationship between the black press and the Black Panthers by examining editorials and letters to the editor in 11 U.S. black newspapers during 1968. 

The authors point out that “1968 was a particularly tumultuous time for black Americans” (7).  Democratic Presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy, a known champion of Civil Rights, was assassinated in California on June 5. Race riots erupted across the nation when Civil Rights leader Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated in Memphis on April 4.  Among the setbacks were also great gains for African Americans.  1968 saw the first election of an African American to the Mayor’s office in our nation’s capital. An African American, Thurgood Marshall, was appointed to the Supreme Court.  And a black woman from Brooklyn became the first African American lady to join congress.  The combination of assassinations and significant racial gains by blacks stirred controversy and upheaval in both the black and white community.

With so much racial tension, “the U.S. [seemed] on the verge of a massive race war pitting blacks against whites” (Thornton & Cassidy 6).  Inciting the war rhetoric were Black Panther leaders like Rap Brown and Stokely Carmichael. They “urged black people to get guns and be ready to fight in the streets” (Thornton & Cassidy 7).  The U.S. government was concerned that the Black Panthers could start a war if the black population rallied behind them.

Was there cause for such concern?  Did the black community support the Black Panthers’ call to arms?  According to the authors, no.  Thornton and Cassidy reach this conclusion by looking at eleven of the nations most important black newspapers. The black press, particularly black newspapers, was a great place to find the prevailing sentiment towards Black Panthers because black newspapers were “among the strongest institutions in black America” (Thornton & Cassidy 7). Each paper was a clear snapshot into the life of the community it served. And in this study, Thornton and Cassidy are interested in the opinion of the everyday African American citizen, instead of black or white leaders. 

The Chicago Defender was the most important newspaper this study examined. Other papers include the The Los Angeles Sentinel, and The Norfolk Journal and Guide.  Thornton and Cassidy note that these newspapers do not represent all black’s views of the Black Panthers in 1968.  Instead, they represent the general public sentiment.  What did the general public think of the Black Panthers?

The authors find that editorials and letters to the editors in the eleven black newspapers they examined did not offer much support to the Black Panthers, even though many editors, and their readers, sympathized with the Black Panther’s cause. 

For instance, The Chicago Defender never openly endorsed the Black Panthers, even though its head editor, John Stengstack, believed in the same goals as the Panthers.  The ordinary citizens who wrote to this newspaper echoed much of Stengstack’s passive view of the Panthers.  

Los Angeles Sentinel editors “demanded virtually the same goals as the Panthers, such as improved education, better housing, job opportunities, better police protection, community self-rule, and a great self worth and black pride” (Thornton & Cassidy 15).  But these same editors also criticized the Black Panthers for using the wrong methods to accomplish their goals. The majority of citizens who wrote to the Sentinel agreed with the editors. One letter writer, Milton R. Deshone, said “the Panthers should stop inciting the public to violence, stop inspiring looters and arsonists and instead inspire black education” (Thornton & Cassidy 15).  

The Norfalk Journal and Guide was perhaps the strongest voice of opposition to the Black Panthers among all the newspapers Thornton and Cassidy studied.  Editors compared Black Panther leaders to criminals and “routinely argued that instead of angry, shouting black leaders, what is needed are leaders who speak quietly and change hearts and minds” (Thornton & Cassidy 11).  Most letter writers agreed with the editors, but there were exceptions.  Some citizens called for more action to be taken to make whites account for centuries of racial injustice. 

The authors wisely selected eleven newspapers from different areas of the country.  Thornton and Cassidy looked at black newspapers from the North, South, Midwest, and West.  This combined with the fact that Thornton and Cassidy examined the most popular black newspapers of 1968 allowed the authors to get a good picture of the national census among the black community.  The Black Panther’s ideas were respected, but there violent methods were vilified by the vast majority of African American citizens in 1968.  

That said, on page 15, the authors make an important point. “No race speaks in a monolithic voice” (Thornton & Cassidy).  There were no doubt a lot of blacks, and probably black newspapers, who supported the Black Panthers in 1968.  The author’s aren’t trying to prove there was no support for the Black Panthers.  They’re just trying to show that the general public didn’t support them. 

This study has particular relevance for anyone interested in the black press’s reaction to its own race.  Many studies look at what the black press had to say about whites, but this takes you into the dialog among the black community of 1968. Perhaps this study may correct someone’s misguided notion that the Black Panthers were the leading voice in the black community.  As Thornton and Cassidy argue, it was still the black press, not the Black Panthers, who gave a voice to blacks in 1968.

Reviewed by Corey Williams