02/02/2021
To celebrate , HopeNet is looking back on how the Black Panther Party utilized social food programs and food to fuel education, revolution, and the survival of black children. In 1969, The Black Panther Party was able to get donated food from grocery stores and advice from nutritionists to start its Free Breakfast For School Children program. then prepared and served that food to school children, some who had never eaten breakfast until the program, once a day and free of charge. Teachers and school officials noticed an immediate change in the children. They were more alert, less tired, and not hungry.
The started with one church in ,ca and initially fed a handful of children. It grew and ended up feeding thousands of children at multiple sites nationwide. The FBI, headed by J. Edgar Hoover who hated the BPP, ultimately the program citing it as, “potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralize BPP and destroy what it stands for.” To destroy the program and the , the FBI intimidated parents with violence. They lied and said the food was poison and even broke into a church to destroy the food by urinating on it; the program was officially extinguished.
The Black Panthers breakfast program did end up putting pressure on political leaders to feed children before school. In 1975, the School Breakfast Program was permanently implemented by the government. Today it is a standard that feeds almost 15 million children nationwide.
We do not forget that it was hate, racism, and spite that ended the Free Breakfast for School Children program. Despite these injustices, the BPP influence and work provided a foundation for all social food programs, like ours. We thank the Black Panthers for teaching food-based organizations how to use the power of food to serve and advance underserved communities. This Black History Month, celebrate the BPP and black people's contribution to social food programs and recognizing the power of food.
