Bobby Seale in Civil Rights Movement: "Black Power" Era
Bobby Seale (1937–) is one of the founders of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.
In the early 1960s, Bobby Seale attended Oakland's Merritt College, where he studied engineering and politics. Like Huey Newton, he had become especially interested in Black liberation struggles in Africa and espoused the Black power philosophy of Malcolm X.
After hearing the militant Black leader speak, he decided he would become a soldier in the struggle against inequality. In 1966, he and Newton formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in response to police brutality and economic strife in the Black community.