Free Breakfast for Children

The program was initiated in late January 1969 at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in West Oakland, California. Two months later, in March 1969, the Black Panther Party opened its second Free Breakfast Program for Children at the Sacred Heart Church in San Francisco, California. The program became so popular that by the end of the year, the Panthers set up kitchens in cities across the US, claiming to have fed 20,000 children in 1969. By 1971, at least 36 Free Breakfast for Kids programs were running nationwide. Many of these programs were held in predominantly Black neighborhoods but also served children of other ethnicities. The program was mainly run by volunteers—both party members and non-affiliated community members, most of them women. Those working closely in the program made sure that the free breakfasts were a concrete assistance to the city's poor communities. They also shaped the program to be a powerful symbol of racial injustice and ghetto marginalization in America by teaching liberation lessons while children ate their meal. Various chapters would also provide transportation for children, from home to the chapter's Free Breakfast site, then to school. == Survival Programs ==

The Free Breakfast for Children Program was one among more than 60 community social programs created by the Black Panther Party. These were operated by party members under the slogan, "Survival pending revolution". In addition to feeding school children, the party started People's Free Food Programs, delivering groceries, and encouraging community members to vote. Other survival programs included children's development centers, free clothing, free busing to prisons, free housing cooperatives, free ambulances, etc. These programs had multiple goals including drawing community members to political rallies, dramatizing social inequalities, providing needed community services, and educating people in the ideas and program of the party. The Survival Programs solidified the Panthers' standing in the larger community. The party's daily presence in the neighborhoods with breakfast, child care, and other programs changed the impression of the Panthers. They were seen as community leaders that actively worked to help the people around them. == Women's roles and contributions ==

The Black Panther Party began as a predominantly male organization but came to include large numbers of women who joined the party who in many instances held crucial and defining roles within the structure and power of the Black Panther Party Organization, with some stating "the Panther women basically ran the headquarters". Despite this however, gender roles still formed a very key issue within the Black Panther Party, among both male and female leaders and members of the party due to the gender roles and cultural stereotypes they themselves had internalized growing up within the United States, which affected the way they saw themselves and, in the case of males, the roles they thought that women should occupy within the party which fell largely along the roles of caretaking, cleaning, and cooking. Although there was support among the public for the armed protection of black communities, the larger struggle of supporting the public was one that caused some dissent, but due to efforts of female Panther members such as Cleo Silver, eventually led to a shift in strategy and resources as the party moved away from solely supporting the idea of a swift overthrow of the existing power structure, and instead towards a dual strategy where the needs of the public were met and served as an opportunity to teach by example the message of the Black Panther Party. This was due to the fact that through canvassing of members of the public, female Panthers had discovered that their communities were concerned about security but also about day-to-day issues such as housing, food, and education, with breakfast being a key issue. In reply to Cleaver, Seale eventually convinced Cleaver to shift from armed struggle to community programs : After the program was launched, the role of women within the party was somewhat complex due to the fact that female members within the party themselves also conformed to prevalent gender roles which placed them in the roles of cooking, cleaning and administrative work. Despite the crucial role that women such as Afeni Shakur played within the party – who was seen largely as a balance between a caring and compassionate woman and a strong, capable leader – a large number of women did play a role within the party which was dictated by societal gender roles and were expected by male Panthers within leadership positions to work in support roles such as performing childcare, cooking and cleaning, despite their crucial roles as community organising, logistics and outreach which distinguished them as important members of the party. An example of this disparity is outlined by former Panther Cleo Silver, who stated that in some of the photo ops intended as propaganda for the party often showed male Panthers serving the children meals, which excluded women from the plaudits of the successes of the programs. Some female members of the Panthers have said this was also due to the fact that the female Panthers did not want these plaudits and were invested in the activities to help their communities. Largely however, the gender expectation was that women's duties and responsibilities consisted of maternal roles in the program's kitchens and serving roles, further highlighting the gender struggles within the Black Panther Party. A notable contribution to the party's mission towards providing free services such as the Free Breakfast for Children program was made by Frankye Adams-Johnson, co-founder of the White Plains Black Panther Party chapter. Similar to the responsibilities and jobs designated to the men, many of these duties in the White Plains chapter were fulfilled by women in the party. Specifically looking at their Free Breakfast for Children program, Johnson's chapter organized and coordinated the logistics of this program, securing food donations and managing operations. The women were also responsible for cooking nutritious meals and ensuring they met dietary needs. The existence of Black Panther Party chapters founded and run by women showed equal commitment to what the Party stood for. Moreover, women-based Free Breakfast programs within chapters founded by women helped to lessen the stereotypes often associated with women's roles in the Party. == Locations ==

Oakland The Black Panther Party initially announced their intentions to begin the Free Breakfast for Children Program in September 1968 and the first program was officially launched at St. Augustine's Episcopal Church in Oakland, CA in late January 1969. Parishioner Ruth Beckford-Smith was in charge of this first program. Chicago Fred Hampton, leader of the Chicago local, helped organize several community programs. These included five different breakfast programs on the West Side, a free medical center, a door to door program of health services (which offered testing for sickle cell anemia), and blood drives for the Cook County Hospital. The Chicago party also reached out to local gangs to clean up their acts, get them away from crime and bring them into the class war. The Party's efforts met with wide success, and Hampton's audiences and organized contingent grew by the day. The Illinois chapter of the Free Breakfast program served more than 400 children every morning. The success of this program motivated government entities to act as shown in the city of Chicago's choice to use federal funds to provide hot breakfast to poor children across the city. In addition to that, the BPP free health care clinics across Chicago motivated party members to make appeals to the Chicago Board of Health advocating for similar clinics in impoverished areas in Chicago. Seattle The Washington chapter of the Black Panther Party experienced support from Seattle-native Jimi Hendrix. He would often send donations to the Seattle chapter of the BPP's free breakfast program. The Washington chapter's decision to also serve white and Asian families, led to broad community support, allowing the chapter to expand to five different locations. Beyond providing free meals, the Washington chapter sent out free groceries every Wednesday to families in the Seattle community. The Seattle chapter of the Black Panther Party met the needs of numerous ethnic groups because the black population in Seattle was not as high as in other areas. The attention to their specific community needs earned the Seattle chapter a reputation of being influential both in Washington and in the United States in general. The Seattle, Washington chapter's free breakfast program lasted longer than the majority of other programs and continued operations past the chapter's official closing date in 1977. Kansas City The Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther Party was led by Peter O’Neal and was composed of working-class, underclass, and middle-class African Americans. Originally the Kansas City chapter of the BPP was known as the "Black Vigilantes." However, when they gained formal admission to the BPP they changed their name. The main focus of the Kansas City chapter was the discontentment of the African American working class, black youth, and building survival programs. The Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther Party successfully started two sites where free breakfast for school children was offered. In order to keep the program going, members of the Kansas City chapter visited local entrepreneurs and requested donations. The support they received allowed the Kansas City chapter to not only feed the black community but also offer political education classes and free health screenings. The Black Panther Party's survival programs attracted attention across the world. In 1970, the Central Committee agreed to let Geronimo Pratt send Steve Green, Harold Joseph Holmes, and George Lloyd to help launch the New Orleans branch of the BPP. The New Orleans Chapter of the Black Panther Party was made up of a younger New Orleanians, most in their late teens and early twenties and the oldest member being twenty-two years old. The New Orleans chapter held political education classes and were considered dangerous and of great concern by the FBI. Barbara Guyton was the breakfast coordinator in New Orleans where many children were fed daily. At breakfast, they were exposed to the Panthers' Ten Point Program and Platform where they taught children about lessons in black history. The Black Panther Party's New Orleans chapter stood for change in violence and police brutality, helping society, and helping today's youth in their education. ==Demise==

Despite its successes, federal authorities, as part of the COINTELPRO agenda, attempted to discredit and derail the Free Breakfast Program. Among other actions, authorities spread rumors of poisoned food and raided breakfast program locations while children were eating. The program gained FBI director J. Edgar Hoover's attention because of its success in gaining the support of many black children and liberal whites. The FBI viewed the program as threat because of its appearance "as a front for indoctrinating children with Panther propaganda." As a result, various agencies, including the police and FBI, were documented to be a force in harassing and discrediting the program, the people it benefited, and the Black Panther Party organization. Police conducted raids at several program sites in an effort to shut down the Free Breakfast for Children program. == Legacy ==

The success of the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast for Children program helped reduce hunger and food insecurity in local communities, while pressuring state and federal governments to expand their own services. The program showed the government's failure in the War on Poverty and the ongoing impact of childhood hunger. However, the California campaign for a free breakfast program had the underlining objective of this state-wide implementation was to seize the political power the Black Panther Party had gained through their survival programs. Additionally, the implementation of this government-funded free breakfast program would cause controversy due to budget cuts made during Reagan's presidency which would lead to widespread poverty across the United States. ==See also==