Historic Conference and Gala Will Honor the 60th Anniversary of the Black Panther Party

Foundations Representing Black Panther Party Founders Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale Unite to Preserve the Party's Legacy and Inspire New Generations

OAKLAND, Calif., Sept. 30, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Sixty years after the Black Panther Party was founded in Oakland, California, the two foundations carrying the legacies of the Party's co-founders are joining forces for a landmark anniversary gathering.

The Black Panther Party 60^th, a four-day conference and gala running October 15–18, 2026, in downtown Oakland, will bring together Party veterans from across the country alongside community members, scholars, activists, artists, and a new generation of leaders. The event marks six decades since Dr. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Party in Oakland in October 1966, when a local organization challenging police brutality grew into an international movement advocating for political empowerment, economic justice, education, healthcare, housing, and human rights.

At the center of the anniversary is the coming together of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation, each carrying forward the legacy of one of the Party's two co-founders. The foundations share a commitment to preserving the Party's history, ensuring its story is told accurately, and connecting its lessons to the challenges facing new generations.

"The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation is proud to work with It's About Time BPP and other Panther veterans to bring this landmark event to Oakland on the 60th anniversary of the Party's founding," said Fredrika Newton, President and co-founder of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation. "We see this conference as a kick off to a new generation of revolutionaries who will take the legacy and lessons of the Black Panther Party forward."

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation was founded 31 years ago by Fredrika Newton, and the Party's Chief of Staff, David Hilliard. Since then, the Foundation has worked to preserve and promote the Party's history and legacy, including placing the first permanent sculpture in Oakland and opening the Black Panther Party Museum.

The collaboration between the foundations representing Newton and Seale carries particular significance during this anniversary year, for all the discord that COINTELPRO sowed, it was not lasting. Together, years later, these legacies are joining forces to assure that the Panther history is remembered, told and shared accurately, and with accessibility to younger generations of organizers.

"For 60 years, people have interpreted, debated, and too often distorted the history of the Black Panther Party," said Courtney S. Parker and Marcus King, co-founders of the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation. "There is tremendous power in the foundations of the Party's two founders coming together around a shared responsibility: preserving this history and making sure future generations have the opportunity to learn directly from it."

That history cannot be understood without the federal campaign designed to erase it. Through the FBI's counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO, the government surveilled, infiltrated, disrupted, and sought to discredit the Party and its leadership. FBI documents later revealed efforts to exploit internal divisions, spread disinformation, undermine community support, and prevent the emergence of what the Bureau described as a unifying Black leader. Members were imprisoned, organizations were destabilized, and lives were lost.

Images of armed Panthers became some of the most recognizable representations of the organization, yet the Party also built an extensive network of community-based Survival Programs designed to meet people's immediate needs. These efforts included the Free Breakfast for Children Program, community health clinics, education programs, food distribution, transportation assistance and other initiatives rooted in the belief that communities could organize to address their own needs while working toward broader systemic change.

Six decades later, the work that was done to mobilize and activate the community continue to resonate and the conference gives attendees as chance to explore it through a slate of events at sites around Oakland, a series of workshops run by former Panthers, community organizers and other allies, culminating in a gala and a community day with Panthers at Lil' Bobby Hutton Park. Tickets can be purchased by visiting bpp60.org.

"The 60th anniversary is a moment to look to the future," said Dr. Xavier Buck, executive director of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation and founding director of the Black Panther Party Museum. "By bringing together Party veterans, scholars, organizers, and a new generation of revolutionaries, this conference will explore how the Party's legacy can continue to inspire action, strengthen communities, and shape the movements still to come. The history of the Black Panther Party is not simply something to preserve; it is a legacy to learn from, build upon, and carry forward into the next 60 years."

Black Panther Party 60^th Anniversary
October 15-18, 2026, Downtown Oakland
Schedule – bpp60.org  **  Instagram - @bpp60th

The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation
The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation is dedicated to preserving and promoting the true legacy and ideals of the Black Panther Party. Since 1995, the Foundation has commissioned public art and created education tools to inspire and inform real social, economic and political change. The Foundation is the number one source for historical preservation and archival collections for people seeking the truth about the Black Panther Party. The Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a 501(c)(3) organization, was co-founded by Fredrika Newton and is based in Oakland, CA, the birthplace of the Black Panther Party. Follow on Instagram @hueypnewtonfoundation.

Media Contact:
Karin Unger
646-515-6933
[email protected] 

SOURCE Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation