Political Organizations
The Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party (BPP) was founded in 1966 in Oakland by Huey Newton and Bobby Seale. The BPP was a pioneer of a new and radical vision of Black power which emerged during the Civil Rights movement. They valued self-determination, economic independence, and community empowerment. While they are often remembered for their militant self-defense practices, the BPP was equally if not more invested in the creation of autonomous structures serving Black communities. These included free breakfast programs, health services, and political education.1 This emphasis of creating self-sufficient Black communities was reflected in the practices of the musical organizations which were emerging simultaneously.
The BPP was also key to the aesthetic & cultural landscape of Black America in the 60s and 70s. Their newspaper, entitled The Black Panther, frequently featured essays discussing the role of art in service of Black power.2 The aesthetic they constructed of black berets, leather jackets, and raised fists quickly became a powerful part of the cultural mainstream. The BPP was also constantly intertwined with music during their existence, especially jazz. They owned homes throughout the nation where musicians like Sun Ra lived, and they operated out of jazz clubs in the Bronx and Brooklyn.3 Their engagement with the cultural mainstream and Black music tied Black artistic expression of the time to political struggle. The Black Panthers were a model for Black musicians to forge their own spaces for creation outside of white-dominated institutions.
The Nation of Islam
The Nation of Islam (NOI), was founded in 1930 in Detroit by Wallace Fard Muhammad. The NOI was (and remains) a central Black nationalist organization. Like the BPP, the NOI focused on economic independence and racial pride, but also incorporated a spiritual element. By the 1960s, the NOI was led by Elijah Muhammad, with Malcolm X as a central spokesperson. They built businesses, schools, and other community institutions which gave Black Americans alternatives to white social-structures.4 Many Jazz and Free Jazz musicians found the organization, especially its spiritual teachings, deeply compelling. Artists like Art Blakey, Ahmad Jamal, Max Roach, and McCoy Tyner all converted to Islam during the 1960s. Many of them thought of Islam as not just a path for personal transformation but also a way to resist racial oppression.
Art Blakey, for instance, converted after being brutally beaten in the South while on tour with Fletcher Henderson. He would say: “Islam has made me feel more like a man, really free.”5 For him, Islam was a way to resist the racial identity and violence imposed on him by mainstream American society,
In this way, the Nation of Islam provided a framework that artists embraced, of cultural resistance. The rhetoric of self-edification and of collective empowerment was an important alternative to the marginalization experienced by Black artists. Converting to Islam was not just a personal and spiritual decision but a rejection of existing racial narratives about Black identity. Thus, the framework put in place by the Nation of Islam was extremely influential for Artists who wanted to tie themselves to activism.