UC Berkeley Graduate School of Journalism is presenting Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers | Photographs by Stephen Shames, with an opening reception and a talk with the photographer and Bobby Seale tonight. This historic exhibition is mounted on the 50th anniversary of the Party's founding. It is an in-depth chronicle of the controversial and revolutionary organization—presented at a time when the nation is once again engaged in struggles against racial injustice. Above: ©Stephen Shames, Panthers March at Defermery Path, Oakland, Rally to Free Huey, 1969

Photographer Stephen Shames, at the time a student at the University of California, Berkeley, first encountered and photographed Panther Chairman Bobby Seale in April 1967 at an anti–Vietnam War rally. Seale became a mentor to Shames, and Shames, in turn, became the most trusted photographer to the party, remaining by Seale’s side through his campaign for mayor of Oakland in 1973. The immediacy and intimacy of Shames' photographs offer an uncommonly nuanced portrait of this dynamic social movement, during one of the most tumultuous periods in recent U.S. history. The book also features the recollections of other living party members -- including Kathleen Cleaver, Elbert "Big Man" Howard, Billy X Jennings, Ericka Huggins, Emory Douglas, Jamal Joseph, and others -- culled from interviews conducted by Shames; as well as the words of Huey P. Newton and Eldridge Cleaver.

“I started hanging out with the Panthers, attending their rallies,” Mr. Shames recalled in the text. “Bobby Seale became my mentor and friend. … I was granted incredible access. Over the next seven years, culminating in Bobby Seale’s 1973 campaign for mayor of Oakland, I documented this group of young men and women, who were at the forefront of the Black Power movement and who became the vanguard of the revolution that was sweeping America.”

© Stephen Shames,Oakland, California, USA: Black Panther children in a classroom at the Intercommunal Youth Institute, the Black Panther school., 1971

Admired, reviled, emulated, misunderstood, the Black Panther Party was one of the most creative and influential responses to racism and economic inequality in American history. They advocated armed self-defense to counter police brutality, and initiated a program of patrolling the police with shotguns—and law books. The Panthers also initiated more than 50 community survival programs including the Free Breakfast for School Children, Free Medical Clinics, Free Food, Clothing, and Legal Aid programs, sickle cell screening, an award winning charter school, and SAFE—a senior citizen program to help prevent muggings and attacks upon the elderly, particularly when they go out to cash their Social Security or pension checks.

© Stephen Shames, Oakland, California, USA: Black Panther Chairman and co-founder Bobby Seale speaks at a Free Huey rally in Defermery Park (named by the Panthers Bobby Hutton Park) in West Oakland. Left of Seale is Bill Brent, who later went to Cuba. Right is Wilford Hol, July 28, 1968.

Stephen Shames is one of America's leading photographers dealing with social issues, whose career began with his work with the Black Panthers. Stephen's work has been widely exhibited and is in the permanent collections of many museums. He is represented by Steven Kasher Gallery and lives in Brooklyn, New York.

Bobby Seale was the chairman of the Black Panther Party during its most vital years. Born in Liberty, Texas, he worked as a mechanic after a stint in the Air Force. He met Huey Newton at Merritt College, where they were both enrolled in the early 1960s, and together they founded the party. A political activist and community organizer, he lives in Vallejo, California.