The Black Power Archives Oral History Project is a collection of oral histories documenting the experiences of Black Power activists in Los Angeles.
The interviews were conducted by Dr. Karin Stanford and Keith Rice.
Byron Booth, a Black Panther, discusses his family and childhood in Chicago. He also describes serving prison time with Eldridge Cleaver, escaping from prison by hijacking a plane to Cuba, and moving to Algeria with Cleaver.
Watani Stiner is a former member of the US Organization. He discusses the difficulties with being a child of the great migration from Houston to Los Angeles, joining the Gladiators social club/gang, his conviction for the killing of Black Panthers Bunchy Carter and John Huggins at UCLA, his escape from prison and life in exile in South America Guyana, and return to the United States.
Kicheko Davis is a former member of the US Organization discusses her leadership role in the organization and how they created the internationally celebrated holiday known as Kwanzaa in Los Angeles.
Ngoma Ali is a former member of the Gladiators social club/street organization and the US Organization and discusses his life growing up in Los Angeles.
Valerie “Tamu” McFalls, is a former member of the Che-Lumumba Club, former wife of Soledad Brother John Cluchette, and former roommate with Angela Davis. Tamu discusses growing up in Santa Barbara and Los Angeles, her membership in the Che-Lumumba Club, and her work on the Soledad Brothers and her work with Franklin and Kendra Alexander.
Joseph “Little Joe” Johnson was a former member of the Che-Lumumba Club and the United Front, and fierce advocate of Black Marxism during the Black Power era. He worked with Hakim Jamal, the co-founder of the US Organization and the cousin of Malcolm X. He also discusses his family history, growing up in the Pueblo Del Rio Projects and significant members of the Black Power Movement.
Monroe Jones is a former member of the Nation of Islam in Los Angeles. He discusses the foundation of Mosque #27 and how his family was one of the first to host meetings for the Nation in the city. He recounts the LAPD police shooting of 7 members of the Mosque on April 27, 1962, that resulted in the death of Ronald Stokes and wounding of others.
Bird is a member of the Slausons street club in Los Angeles. In this clip, he and Kumasi, who is also a Slauson, discuss the street clubs of the 1940s, 50s, and 60s and their relationship to the Black Power Movement and the gangs that came after them.
Franklin “Jomo” Shuford was recruited into Black Panther Party at age 14 by Eldridge Cleaver in Riverside, CA. He worked alongside his mother as a community activist. Shuford spent 10 years on death row for a crime he did not commit as part of an attempt to connect him to a Black Panther murder of an Orange County Policeman.
Deacon Alexander recounts his participation in the activities of the Black Panther Party under Bunchy Carter, Elaine Brown, Eldridge Cleaver, and Huey Newton in the mid-1960s. He also talks about his recruitment and early participation in the Communist Party with Angela Davis during the same time period.
Kumasi is a member of the Slausons social club/street organization and a leader in the prison movement, where he articulated points of the Folsom Prison Manifesto and was a comrade to Soledad Brother George Jackson. Kumasi has been featured in the documentaries Crips and Bloods: Made in America and Bastards of the Party.
Ron Wilkins is a leader in the Los Angeles Black Power Movement. He is a member of the Slausons social club/gang, field commander of the Community Alert Patrol (CAP), and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). Ron talks about growing up in Los Angeles and his activities as a Slauson and his leadership role during the 1965 Rebellion known as the Watts Riots, and his various roles as a member of the Black Freedom Struggle.
From a lifetime of service spanning the 1950s to the present, former head of the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), LA chapter, John Floyd details his role as both participant and witness to some of the most pivotal events of the Black Power era.
Jitu Sadiki was the co-founder of Super Natural Lowriders Car Club, Black August and the Black August Collective - Los Angeles, the Black Awareness Community Development Organization (BACDO), amongst other organizations of varying activist causes.
Dolores Daaimah Jardan Stokes talks about growing up in the Nation of Islam and how its founder Fard Muhammad changed her family’s surname from Jordan to Jardan. Ms. Jardan also talks about her migration to Los Angeles to be with her husband Ronald Stokes. The short-lived marriage ended on April 27, 1962, when Los Angeles Police raided and shot up the NOI Mosque on Broadway. Ronald Stokes was killed, and other members of the organization were wounded.
Harry Carey, head of security for the Black Student Alliance, reflects on the Carver Jr. High School student revolt, the rise of the Black Consciousness Movement at California State University Los Angeles during the 1960s, and the genius of Black Women activists.
An in-depth interview highlighting Long John Washington’s migration from Arkansas and adjustment to life in Los Angeles. Long John discusses his membership in the Slausons social club/gang at a young age. He also recalls his incarceration with future Black Panther leader, Bunchy Carter and their work in the community on their release and his leadership role in the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party and its underground formation.
Wallace Grissette is a former LA County firefighter who started firefighting while incarcerated as part of the prisoner fire crews.
Mohammed Mubarak details his childhood in segregated Memphis, Tennessee, during the mid-fifties. He also sheds light on his upbringing in Compton, California and his experiences concerning the Watts Riots. Much of the history also addresses his involvement in the Black Panther Party, touching on such topics as Party leadership, activities of members, public support for the organization, and the violent 1969 police raid of the Party’s LA headquarters. Mubarak also details his early years as an artist after being released from a federal penitentiary.
Norma Mtume is a former member of the Black Panther Party. She discusses her childhood experiences with racism and events that led her to join the Party, the establishment of free medical clinics, and the Party’s move from Los Angeles to Oakland. Mtume reveals how the Party impacted her life, her family, and her ongoing work in the non-profit health sector globally.
Ruth Wakabayashi Kondo was born on April 21, 1947, in Los Angeles, to Japanese parents’ post-internment. She grew up in Boyle Heights, attending Japanese American schools and later graduating from Cal State LA in 1969. Ruth became deeply involved in activism after her schooling, working with the Black Panther Party and the Breakfast Program in Compton. In 1973 her home in Orange County was raided by local authorities and the FBI on false charges of a forgery ring being located there. In 1975 she was called up to Oakland to continue her activism and teaching at the Black Panthers’ Oakland Community School. After she left the party in 1977 she continued her activism with Nikkei Progressives, focusing on reparations and social justice.