By the People, For the People: A Black Panther Party Celebration

Emory Douglas served as the Revolutionary Artist and Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 through the early 1980s. He created the Party’s initial visual identity, and his iconic artwork came to symbolize the struggles of the social justice movement of that era and beyond. Through the widely circulated Black Panther Party newspaper, Douglas spurred community action by portraying poor and marginalized people with empathy—depicting them as unapologetic, empowered, and ready to fight for basic human rights and a better quality of life. Today, Douglas continues to create art focused on social justice and community concerns.

Susanna Lucia Lamaina is a social documentary photographer, independent scholar, educator, and curator. She holds a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute and an MA from San Francisco State University. A former colleague of Farm Security Administration photographer John Collier, Jr., she also studied with Professor Emerita and activist Angela Davis and photographer Pirkle Jones. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally and is held in private collections including Stanford University’s Green Library. She is the author of “Revolutionary Grain: Celebrating the Spirit of the Black Panthers in Portraits and Stories.”

Billy X Jennings is a historian, archivist, and former member of the Black Panther Party. Born in historic Hobson City, Alabama, and raised in California, Jennings joined the Black Panther Party in 1968 after witnessing the Free Huey rallies in Oakland. As a Panther, he worked on community programs such as Free Breakfast for Children, taught in Liberation Schools, and supported labor movements like the United Farm Workers boycott. He later served as a personal aide to party leaders and helped run Bobby Seale’s 1972 mayoral campaign. Since the 1990s, Jennings has been the lead archivist of Panther history, founding the “It’s About Time” website and curating exhibits across the U.S. and internationally to preserve the Party’s legacy.

Ericka Huggins is an educator, human rights activist, former political prisoner, and longtime member of the Black Panther Party. From 1973 to 1981, she directed the Party’s groundbreaking Oakland Community School, and later led volunteer programs focused on HIV/AIDS education. A poet and speaker, Ericka has spent decades advancing mindfulness practices in schools, jails, and community spaces. She has taught Sociology, African American Studies, and Women and Gender Studies at California universities, and today facilitates conversations on equity, social justice, and self-care. She is the co-author of Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party.

Malik Edwards is a visual artist whose creative journey began in childhood, inspired by his father and the informal techniques shared by community elders. After serving in Vietnam, he became an illustrator in the Marine Corps art department. In 1970, Malik joined the National Committee to Combat Fascism in Washington, D.C., and soon became the lead artist for the D.C. Chapter of the Black Panther Party. His work caught the attention of Emory Douglas, the Party’s Minister of Culture, who mentored Malik and deepened his understanding of art as a revolutionary force. Malik went on to contribute independently to The Black Panther newspaper. Influenced by global movements and traditions, his art continues to evolve—but he proudly remains a Panther artist at heart.

Gayle “Asali” Dickson is an artist, a former member of the Black Panther Party (Party) from 1970-1976, and an ordained minister (retired). While in the Party, she typeset articles for the Party’s newspaper and drew for its back pages. She also served as a pre-school teacher using art as a teaching tool, as well as an art instructor for upper grades at the Party’s Oakland Community School. The mantra Gayle operated under was “Serve the People Body and Soul”. As a minister she started a program that used art and food to expose neighborhood children to the world’s cultures; started a non-profit for workshops on self-care; and made possible a literacy program to operate out of the church she pastored. Today Gayle’s art portfolio includes stories from history, the Bible, Spiritual musings and lessons from the environment. Currently, she is exhibiting with the Norman Rockwell Museum’s traveling art exhibit, Imprinted: Illustrating Race and at Rowen University in New Jersey, Carrying On.