The Black Panther Party for Self Defense established its Seattle chapter in the spring of 1968, after Aaron Dixon, Elmer Dixon, Anthony Ware, Gary Owens and several other future Panthers attended a memorial service in San Francisco for 17 year-old Bobby Hutton, who had been killed in a shootout with local police. While in Oakland, the Seattle youth met BPP Chairman Bobby Seale, whose subsequent visit to Seattle marked the beginning of the Seattle chapter, one of the first authorized chapters outside of California. The Seattle chapter also lasted longer than most, surviving until 1978.
This photo shows BPP lieutenant Cranston Owens, 17, at Rainier Beach Junior-Senior High School. Owens was one of about 15 Black Panthers, some carrying weapons, who showed up to support Rainier Beach Black students during episodes of racial unrest at the school. According to the Post-Intelligencer caption, Owens said the Panthers were showing themselves peacefully to insure "none of our black brothers or sisters are molested here."
Caption information source: University of Washington Seattle Black Panther Party History and Memory Project at http://depts.washington.edu/civilr/BPP.htm Caption information also derived from captions written by Post-Intelligencer staff and attached to the back of the photograph.
