Here is another addition to our ongoing series on the Black Panther Party food programs. The party had chapters across the country from Oakland to Boston. The Boston chapter opened its headquarters at 375 Blue Hill Avenue in July of 1968. Delano B. Farrar served at its Deputy Minister of Defense and Frank Hughes as its Deputy Chairman. At first the chapter dedicated the lion share of its time running political education classes for new members at a space on the campus of Northeastern University and at its headquarters. They called the classes “Operation Black [Consciousness].” The party assigned books such as Franz Fannon’s The Wretched of the Earth, the Autobiography of Malcolm X, Kwame Nkrumah’s I Speak of Freedom, Leroi Jone’s Blues People, Ed Cronin’s Black Moses, Lerone Bennett Jr.’s Before the Mayflower, and WEB Dubois’s Black Reconstruction and The Souls of Black Folks. New members also had to memorize the part’y 10 point program. The last of the 10 points focuses on among other topics food. It reads, “we want land, bread, housing, education, clothing, justice, and peace.”
