Bobby Seale

Bobby Seale is an American political activist and author.

In 1966, he co-founded the Black Panther Party with fellow activist Huey P. Newton. Founded as the "Black Panther Party for Self-Defense," the Party's main practice was monitoring police activities and challenging police brutality in Black communities, first in Oakland, California, and later in cities throughout the United States.

Seale was one of the Chicago Eight charged by the US federal government with conspiracy charges related to anti-Vietnam War protests in Chicago, Illinois, during the 1968 Democratic National Convention. In that trial, Seale was infamously ordered by the judge, Julius Hoffman, to appear in court bound and gagged. More than a month into trial, Seale's case was severed from the other defendants, turning the "Chicago Eight" into the "Chicago Seven." After his case was severed, the government declined to retry him on the conspiracy charges. Though he was never convicted in the case, Seale was sentenced by Judge Hoffman to four years for criminal contempt of court. The contempt sentence was reversed on appeal.

In 1970, while in prison, Seale was charged and put on trial in the New Haven Black Panther trials over the torture and murder of Alex Rackley, whom the Black Panther Party suspected of being a police informer. Panther George Sams, Jr., testified that Seale had ordered him to kill Rackley. The jury was unable to reach a verdict in Seale's trial, and the charges were eventually dropped.

Seale's books include A Lonely Rage: The Autobiography of Bobby Seale, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton, and Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers (with Stephen Shames). (Wikipedia, CC BY-SA)

Sources

• "Bobby Seale." Wikipedia, revision of 2 March 2022. < link > Accessed 4 March 2022.
• Gunasena, Nadee. "Assembly Series to bring activists Seale, Johnson-Seale." Washington University in Saint Louis, published 28 March 2003. < link > Accessed 5 March 2022.
• Reitwiesner, William Addams. "Ancestry of Bobby Seale." WARGS. < link > Accessed 4 March 2022.
• Rout, Kay Kinsella. "Seale, Robert George ('Bobby')." Encyclopedia.com. < link > Accessed 5 March 2022.
• Woodward, Walter W. "A City, State, & Country Divided: The New Haven Black Panther Trials." Today in Connecticut History, published 13 March 2021. < link > Accessed 4 March 2022.