Power to the People: The Black Panthers Speak

by Fred Hampton

In October of 1966, in Oakland California, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. The Panthers practiced militant self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government, and fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community-based programs. The party was one of the first organizations in U.S. history to militantly struggle for ethnic minority and working class emancipation - a party whose agenda was the revolutionary establishment of real economic, social, and political equality across gender and color lines. Many words have been said about the Black Panthers...listen to what they have to say.

Genres: Nonfiction, History, Activism, Theory, Race, Audiobook, Anti Racist

Audiobook

First published December 31, 2013

About the author

Fredrick Allen Hampton Sr. was deputy chairman of the U.S. Black Panther Party, chair of the Illinois chapter, and co-founder of the the antiracist, anticlass Rainbow Coalition.

Seen as a radical Marxist-Leninist, communist threat by the FBI under Director J. Edgar Hoover, Hampton was drugged and shot to death in his bed during a predawn raid at his Chicago apartment by a tactical unit of the Cook County State's Attorney's Office, who received aid from the Chicago Police Department and the FBI leading up to the attack.

Reviews

[Davina · Rating 3 out of 5]

Interesting primary source. The audio edition can be hard to understand as the speeches sound as if they were recorded separately from whatever sound system they were using so is full of crowd noise, and echo from the speakers. They also don't set context for the speeches so I can only tell the shift in time and location from the content of the speech. It would have helpful to add something explain the date, and location, let alone any other context for the story around that speech. It was still interesting to experience the emotional content, and to hear from the Panthers. I had some background in the Panthers from a University course so, so long ago, which helped. If you're not familiar with the Black Panther Party, nor versed in the history of the struggle for Civil Rights, this isn't a good place to start, as it's just speeches.

[Angela · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book had numerous speeches, including one by Fred Hampton. I was hoping there would be more of his work in this volume but I thought it was thought-provoking and a starting point to more work by the black panthers. The highlight was a speech by one woman talks about what it means to be a woman in the black panther movement. Unfortunately the audio quality is not the best and many speakers are not introduced.

[Bek (MoonyReadsByStarlight)]

It was really great to hear these speeches and I liked that they included other bits alongside them to talk about his death. The down side here is the audio quality. Some were very hard to hear and I had to listen through twice. While transcriptions of some are available, I could not find all of them. I am still very glad that someone did compile what they could, as there are not many books (that I have found) to go to that focus on Fred Hampton specifically.

[Ivonne Rovira · Rating 3 out of 5]

Caveat emptor: Audible has done nothing to improve the quality of these recordings, making them very hard to understand. A bad loud-speaker system combined with lots of feedback and crowd noise make much of the recording unintelligible.

That said, it was very interesting to hear the late Fred Hampton. It makes it obvious why the FBI felt that they had to murder him in his sleep. As others have mentioned, other speakers are never identified, another failing.

[Gabriel Hamilton · Rating 5 out of 5]

Very good audio book. Allowed me to hear from the mouths of those who lead the revolutions. Hear what they seen and how they seen it without it being white washed and watered down.

[LeeTravelGoddess · Rating 5 out of 5]

wonderful collection of speeches and news segments during this time. We need an actual Black Panther movie 💚💚💚✊🏽.

[Ratty Datty · Rating 5 out of 5]

beautiful

[Taylor]

Just a short collection of speeches, some of them i’ve heard before. Overall pretty interesting though.

[K2 · Rating 5 out of 5]

"You High, I’m High! I’m High off ThePeople. I had to put MyEar to the Ground and when I put MyEar to the Ground, I heard ThePeople.....Fred Hampton"

[Elizabeth · Rating 4 out of 5]

Do not recommend this particular recording on Hoopla, it needs a lot of cleaning up.

[Shana Z · Rating 4 out of 5]

The content of these speeches: 5 stars

As other reviewers have commented, the lack of audio clean-up, context, and logical order of the speeches make it a harder listen. But it is so worth it. This is an excellent introduction to Fred Hampton, and I imagine it is a good listen for me before I dive into The Assassination of Fred Hampton.

[Walter · Rating 5 out of 5]

Beautiful words that I have to revisit often. Fred Hampton was a powerful and brave young brother.

[Cris · Rating 3 out of 5]

Rating based only on audio quality of the audiobook; it needs refined through modern technology to be effectively heard.

[Mason Wyss · Rating 2 out of 5]

Difficult to parse without knowing the speakers, times, and locations. This is easily the worst part of the tape.

The audio quality is poor, but it’s not insurmountable if you’re interested in listening to the Panthers.

The clips are also too short, so it’s hard to get a cohesive picture of the Panthers’ culture, politics, and oratory skills.