The Enduring Legacy of Portland's Black Panthers

An epic, motivating, and powerful tale of growing up Black in Portland's then-suburb of Albina in the 1960s. Told from original interviews and extensive sources—including police surveillance documents—Biel offers a clear picture of the social-service innovations created by neighborhood activists trying to better their community and how the police attempted to destroy them at every turn. Portland's Black Panther chapter innovated healthy free breakfasts for impoverished children, the longest running Panther free health clinic, the Black Panther's first dental clinic, and relentless efforts towards the direction that their own neighborhoods took. But the Panther organization itself was spied upon, infiltrated, and slowly ripped apart by the state apparatus. Despite a racist city hall and police force, Black Panthers in Portland persisted, outlasting most branches in the United States and making permanent marks that last today. Virtually nonexistent in retellings of the Black Panthers, this is their story.