By 1970, the Black Panther Party (BPP) had 10 chapters in different cities across the country and thousands of members. From their start in 1966, the BPP called access to food a human right advocated a redistribution of wealth to meet people’s basic necessities such as food. The party championed restoring human dignity to the oppressed, ending hunger, and protecting the constitutional rights of every citizen. The Panthers free breakfast program serves as a sharp contrast to state and religious authorities who ignored that nutritional needs of school-aged children. Recipients of Panthers services like the free breakfast program could not understand why the media and government officials like FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover described the BPP as a threat to society. The free breakfast program had the effect of undermining the slander of dominant caste journalist and government officials about the BPP. The free breakfast program also challenged traditional civil rights organizations like the NAACP and the Urban league to commend the Panthers for their service to hungry people instead of criticizing them for their militant public image.