Black Panther Party Free Breakfast Program Spreads
Black Panther Party free breakfast program, California, Courtesy of the San Francisco Public library
The Detroit chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) had their headquarters located at 8417 12 Street and Euclid Ave in Detroit, Michigan. In the spring of 1969, chapter piloted a free breakfast program for schoolchildren with funding from African American businesses located in the vicinity of the BPP headquarters. The piloted breakfast program fed 200 children; they then decided to kick off a fundraising drive to expand the program. The God Father of Soul James Brown donated $500. Thereafter others donated to the free breakfast program. In New York the Harlem chapter of the Black Panther Party followed suit creating a free breakfast program. The leadership of Friendship Baptist Church located at 144 W. 131st Street donated space for it. The chapter’s Minister of Information Zayd Melik Shakur (brother of now Panther in exile Assata Shakur living in Cuba and uncle of rapper Tupac Shakur) explained, we feed children because it is the most important meal of the day and if we didn’t do it, many would go to school hungry making it difficult to concentrate and learn. 175 miles South, the Philadelphia chapter of the Black Panther Party launched a breakfast program at their headquarters located at 1931 West Columbia Avenue in North Philadelphia. They thought the program would both feed hungry school aged children and convict what they called, “pork chop preachers” leading local church congregations and move them to start similar programs. Too many churches opened on Sundays collected tithes and offerings from community residents and then refused to open their doors during the week to feed hungry people despite the biblical call to feed the poor.
