Dare to struggle: The socio-environmental and psychological roots of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panther Party

The Black Panther Party emerged in Chicago in the late 1960s and was a direct response to the physical, social, and political environment that African Americans were subjected to in the city. The African American community in Chicago had been geographically restricted and oppressed by both public and private citizens of Chicago which began with the First Great Migration in the early twentieth century. Processes such as redlining, urban renewal, and white flight further solidified the strict segregation and subjugation of the city’s African American population during the mid-twentieth century. The establishment of the Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1968 was an answer to these environmental inequalities that disturbed the African American community of Chicago. The ideology and the programs of the Black Panther Party in Chicago echoed the frustrations and needs of black Chicagoans who were being exposed to dilapidated environments. The Black Panther Party in Chicago therefore should be viewed as a product of the distinct urban environment of Chicago and quickly became a popular and impactful organization within the city because it reflected and attempted to rectify the dissatisfactions of the city’s African Americans