POLITICAL LESSONS FROM A BLACK PANTHER PARTY EXPERIENCE,
and/or
BLACK STUDENT PROTEST TODAY

Charles "Cappy" Pinderhughes, a veteran Black community and labor activist for over twenty years, was Lieutenant of Information for the New Haven Chapter of the Black Panther Party in 1969 and 1970 during the pretrial phase of the campaign to free Bobby Seale and the New Haven Panthers. Mr. Pinderhughes developed The People's News Service, a Panther periodical and organizing tool consisting of mostly local news. The paper was widely copied by other Panther chapters across the country. A native of Boston MA, Mr. Pinderhughes has also lived, worked and organized in Beloit WI, Baltimore MD and Atlanta GA. Presently, he is an active member of the recently formed Black Radical Congress. He has earned a Masters in Political Science from Goddard College, and is currently working on his doctorate in Sociology at Boston College. His fields of specialization focus on social movements, race relations, and media studies.

A trained mediator who is highly knowledgeable about student/administration disputes, Mr. Pinderhughes is also available on very short notice to aid the resolution of such conflicts. As both a neutral party and speaker, Mr. Pinderhughes can be reached at the telephone number and email address listed below.

Mr. Pinderhughes is available to speak on:

"Political Lessons From a Black Panther Party Experience." In this presentation, he explores such questions as - What were the historical conditions which gave rise to the BPP? What were the successes and failures of the Black Panther Party? What contributions were made? What were the most important mistakes that the Panther Party made? What did they do right? What were the roles, status and treatment of women in the Panther Party? What were the internal and external forces which eventually destroyed the organization? Which policies and practices from the Black Panther Party are relevant to organizing today? What about the new Black Panther groups of today? Along with presenting a periodization of the Black Panther Party from its founding to disintegration, Mr. Pinderhughes explores these and other questions in an original analysis of the BPP and the current revival of interest in its history.

"Black Student Protest Today." Mr. Pinderhughes is currently researching "Black Student Insurgency and Institutional Response in the 1990's" for his doctoral dissertation. He has conducted numerous interviews with student activists, faculty and administrators while examining student protest at Boston College, Howard University, Savannah State University, and the University of Massachusetts at Amherst, as well as selected interviews with participants and observers of student protest at ten other colleges. In this presentation he examines questions such as - What are the causes of Black student insurgency? How frequent are these protests today? What are some of the similarities and differences between the Black student protests of the 1960's and 1970's and those of the 1990's? Do the dynamics of various current protests include common elements? What role models inspire Black student protesters? Is there a best way to resolve student protest once it appears?

Mr. Pinderhughes is available to speak on either or both topics to one or more different audiences during a visit to a campus and/or community. During such a visit, he also would be available for consultation and advice to small groups. His speaking fees vary, depending on length of engagement, venue, and travel time, beginning at $500 plus travel expenses.

Mr. Pinderhughes can be reached at:

Charles Pinderhughes
70 Brookledge Street
Boston MA 02121
617-442-3545
pinderhc@bc.edu
fax: 503-905-1019
http://www2.bc.edu/~pinderhc/

9/28/99