Power to the People

Designer Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad United States, born 1945

Publisher Committee to Defend the Panther 21

Publisher Artists Revolutionary Movement

Datec. 1970

Dimensions41 1/2 x 29 1/2 in. (105.4 x 74.9 cm)

ClassificationsPoster

Credit LinePoster House Permanent Collection

Terms

Object numberPH.9674

DescriptionThis poster refers to a group of 21 members of the Black Panther Party who were arrested in New York and accused of planning to blow up three New York City locations on January 17, 1969: the Bronx 44th police precinct, the Manhattan 24th police precinct, and the Queen’s Board of Education office. Those who could not afford to post bail were held at Rikers Island. All 21 were acquitted in May 1971 after an eight-month trial. This psychedelic image, issued by the Committee to Defend the Panther 21, shows a figure with the raised, clenched fist known as the Black Power salute, a symbol of the Black liberation movement from the late sixties; he is set against repeated silhouettes of the Chrysler Builder, an iconic symbol of the city in which these events took place. The poster was designed by Dhoruba al-Mujahid bin Wahad (born Richard Earl Moore), a leading activist in the New York branch of the Black Panther Party.

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