When I was in college, I was a radical of sorts, probably more in my mind than in actuality. It was during the early 1970s when college campuses were hotbeds of revolutionary ideas and action: White campuses protesting the war and us rallying for our liberation.
No one spoke more fearlessly about black empowerment than Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and the Black Panther Party. Even with all of their warts, the Panthers were our heroes – with their straight talk, their in-your-face glare, their sense of defiance. They stared down J. Edgar Hoover’s FBI and local police departments in a way that black men were not supposed to.
And no one stood up to them like Huey sitting down in that wicker chair. (Click on photo above for a full view.) Remember that infamous poster? Many of us college students proudly pinned it to our walls:
A black beret cocked to the right, a spear in his left hand, a rifle in his right, sitting there in a fan-back wicker chair staring daringly out at us. Underneath it was printed: “The racist dog policemen must withdraw immediately from our communities.”
One of those paper posters was auctioned this week at an African Americana Print and Manuscript sale at Swann Auction Galleries in New York. It sold for $16,000, purchased by a museum.
Those of us in the audience clapped, because we were both astonished and happy. Astonished that the poster was worth so much and happy that our history was being valued.
After starting the bidding at $950, the auctioneer had jokingly set the next bid at $10,000 and we all laughed. He nor we ever expected it to reach that high. But soon the bidding started to climb and kept climbing. “Huey must be turning over in his grave,” I said to my auction-pal Beverly, who had taken the drive to New York with me.
The poster was not the only Black Panther item that went for a high price. Nineteen items were up for auction, and they sold for prices ranging from $225 to $8,000. I’m assuming most of these were also museum purchases.
At the end of the sale, the auctioneer suggested that we all go home and look for our old Black Panthers and political posters (a non-Panthers poster, a silkscreen that was expected to sell for a maximum of $600, sold for $15,000). One auction-goer noted (pretty correctly, I’m sure) that the owners probably paid one buck for those posters.
Unfortunately, I no longer have my Huey poster. Who would’ve ever guessed back then that it would be worth so much now. When you’re in the middle of a revolution you don’t think about preserving it but living it.
I wonder how many Black Panther members still have the items. While Bobby Seale is selling his barbeque cookbook on the web, maybe he should be checking his stash for some of his old posters. A Bobby Seale poster titled “Kidnapped” sold for $6,000.
Seale and Huey formed the Black Panther Party in 1966 in the midst of the civil rights movement. They found Dr. Martin Luther King and his nonviolent approach too meek for a community beaten down literally by the police club. The Panthers felt that a radical approach was needed. They patrolled the police to attract attention to police brutality, taught black people their rights, and set up education and free breakfast programs.
Black Panther chapters were organized in cities across the country, even in Philadelphia where they were besieged by (and they taunted) Police Commissioner Frank Rizzo and his officers.
Interestingly, an auction-goer recently gave me a small framed poster produced by Rizzo’s opponent in the 1971 campaign for Philadelphia mayor. The poster showed a Philadelphia Daily News photo of two black men stripped naked – their backs and buttocks exposed – and several others in the process of disrobing. They had been arrested after a raid by Philadelphia police of a Black Panther Party office in 1970. Police forced them to take their clothes off as news photographers snapped pictures.
The photo is difficult to look at. This act was designed by Rizzo’s police force to strip the men of their dignity and humanity. Rizzo apparently wasn’t part of the raid but he made it clear that he condoned it.
Huey and the Black Panthers scared people like Rizzo and Hoover. Unafraid, these black men were as passionate about the liberation of black people as the police were about stopping them. We respected the Panthers for what they were trying to do. We saw them as freedom fighters.
Here’s a sampling of what the other Black Panther posters sold for (prices do not include a 20 percent premium). All photos are from the Swann website:
Fred Hampton 1948-1969. When One of Us Falls, 1000 Will Take His Place, $8,000. Hampton, deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Black Panthers, was killed while sleeping in his bed during a raid in1969 by police and the FBI. He was becoming a rising star in the Party and his death – deemed a murder by many people – became a rally cry against the police.
Free Bobby, Free Ericka, Free Ruchell Magee, Free Angela, Free Kathleen And All Political Prisoners, $7,000.
Free All Political Prisoners, $5,400.
Free the Soledad Brothers, $5,000. The Soledad Brothers were George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette, who were charged with killing a guard in a California prison in 1970. They were said to have killed him in retaliation for the death of a black inmate at the hands of another guard during a fight in the prison yard. Activist Angela Davis took up their cause.
Political prisoners of U.S.A. Facism, $4,200.
Happy Birthday Huey P. Newton, $2,000.
People’s Rally to Support the Imprisoned New Haven Panthers, $1,600.
Power to the People. $1,100.
I HAVE AN ORIGINAL!!! When One of Us Falls, 1000 Will Take His Place posters!!! It was so exciting to find it listed here in your article!!!!! I had no luck finding any info. in the past. Now 2 years later decided to look again. WOW!!!
Good for you, Robin. Just keep in mind that that was the price then; yours could bring more or less depending on when you decide to sell it or who’s looking for such a poster at any given point in time.
Sherry
I personally think these black relevant items’ value will continue to rise. They’re very hard to find and continue to be in many areas around the country. I would like to state clearly this is my opinion.