![]() Additionally, the portrayal of women as female warriors challenged the traditional female roles of caregiver and homemaker, expanding the ways in which women could contribute to the organization. By depicting both men and women independently as revolutionaries, Lewis made room for women to appear as heroes and leaders. Lewis’ images also contain a compelling message about gender, according to Farmer. The images emphasized the ongoing black struggle and the need for armed self-defense and control of urban spaces – rather than simply the ultimate fate of the revolution.īy depicting both men and women independently as revolutionaries, Lewis made room for women to appear as heroes and leaders. Often, Farmer points out, these images were accompanied by captions that emphasized combating power structures such as police brutality, while thinking about specific ways to improve daily life in the black community. ![]() In Lewis’ depictions of both male and female revolutionaries, the revolutionary apperas as a strong and fierce paramilitary figure standing alone among the ruins of a decaying urban landscape. However, Lewis also challenged this early focus on the male image-by depicting women in similar revolutionary poses. As Farmer explains, this shows how African-American women were integral to shaping the masculine Panther image from the Party’s earliest years. Lewis helped create the popular image of the black male revolutionary. Portraying women as tough revolutionariesįarmer examined the work of Tarika Lewis, whose artwork appeared in the first issues of The Black Panther in the late 1960s. What's more, the enduring popularity of these images today helps fuel the common belief the party was largely male-centered.īut, by purposefully seeking out female artists, Farmer discovered that women played a crucial role internally in the creation of Black Panther revolutionary art and in shaping the black power movement. The revolutionary artwork contained within the newspaper's pages produced a striking visual lesson in how to be a revolutionary, explains Farmer. These images were first included in the organization’s newspaper, The Black Panther (1968-1980). Key to the Panthers' iconic success, according to Farmer, was a series of commanding drawings and photographs of the black male revolutionary. The organization’s rapid expansion into multiple cities across the nation, along with high-profile arrests and protests, soon made the Black Panthers an icon of 1960s counterculture. The Black Panther Party formed in 1966 with the goal of protecting black neighborhoods and ending police brutality. ![]() Revolutionary artwork in the Black Panther Party This research forms part of Farmer's future book, tentatively titled What You've Got is a Revolution: Black Women's Movements for Black Power. In addition, women set a community-focused revolutionary agenda that supported programs for daycare, groceries, and housing. What she found is that these women defied gender roles by depicting women as strong, gun-toting revolutionaries. She looked particularly at newspaper artwork produced by women artists. Their participation created new political models that encouraged women to be active and public revolutionary figures alongside men.įarmer combed through publications such as The Black Panthernewspaper to find evidence of black women’s public role. ![]() Farmer’s research shows that women played an instrumental role in shaping the black power movement. Historian Ashley Farmer, who is a postdoctoral fellow at the Clayman Institute for Gender Research, offers an alternative to the conventional, macho portrayal of the Black Panthers. It may be surprising, then, to learn that by the early 1970s the Black Panther Party was two-thirds female. This image has been seared into the collective conscious and appears on thousands of posters and t-shirts. When many people think of the Black Panther Party today, the image that comes to mind is male-centered and violent: a powerful man wearing the Panther’s signature black beret, with gun prominently in hand.
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