Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement

by Suzanne Cope

Two unsung women whose power using food as a political weapon during the civil rights movement was so great it brought the ire of government agents working against them

In early 1969 Cleo Silvers and a few Black Panther Party members met at a community center laden with boxes of donated food to cook for the neighborhood children. By the end of the year, the Black Panthers would be feeding more children daily in all of their breakfast programs than the state of California was at that time.
 
More than a thousand miles away, Aylene Quin had spent the decade using her restaurant in McComb, Mississippi, to host secret planning meetings of civil rights leaders and organizations, feed the hungry, and cement herself as a community leader who could bring people together—physically and philosophically—over a meal.
 
These two women’s tales, separated by a handful of years, tell the same how food was used by women as a potent and necessary ideological tool in both the rural south and urban north to create lasting social and political change. The leadership of these women cooking and serving food in a safe space for their communities was so powerful, the FBI resorted to coordinated extensive and often illegal means to stop the efforts of these two women, and those using similar tactics, under COINTELPRO--turning a blind eye to the firebombing of the children of a restaurant owner, destroying food intended for poor kids, and declaring a community breakfast program a major threat to public safety.

But of course, it was never just about the food.

Genres: History, Nonfiction, Feminism, Social Justice, Race, Food, The United States Of America

304 pages, Hardcover

First published January 1, 2021

Reviews

[Haley]

Initially, I was very excited to start reading this book about the women who helped feed the movement. I like niche history books that explore those who have been forgotten with time. Unfortunately, I found the writing in this book to be unexciting. More like reading a history textbook then a moving novel about two women who helped make change during the Civil Rights Movement. I powered through but at least for me I never felt the personalities of these powerful women within the pages. This book does provide a good history of the Black Panther Party I just don't think it made these women as memorable as they could have been.

I received this book for free from Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

[Kate Ringer · Rating 3 out of 5]

I appreciated learning about the Black Panther Party in New York and CORE in Mississippi through the lens of the women who were leaders in each movement. It was a happy coincidence that I was reading Kiese Laymon at the same time as I listened to this; it provided so much context to the stories of Mississippi that he tells in both Heavy and Long Division.

Every time I think about COINTELPRO I hate America a little bit more.

[Rebecca · Rating 5 out of 5]

I found this book to be excellent. I checked it out because I've been wanting to learn more about the Black Panther movement. The additional info on activists in Mississippi was an added bonus for me. I am grateful to be introduced to the names of women I've never heard of before through this scholarship. I'm also grateful to have a better understanding of what the Panthers truly represented and believed in. They are an organization that deserve praise and hopefully one day soon the media influence of the misunderstanding of what they actually did will go away.
This was a unique approach to look at food as a method of bringing people together and being used as a political tool and I think that's fantastic. I highly recommend this.

[Lanie · Rating 3 out of 5]

3.75 ⭐️ 3 stars is not enough but 4 would be too much. I really enjoyed the first half of this book but a lot of it wasn’t well connected. At times what the writer chose to talk about in a chapter felt out of place and very sporadically written.

[Tiffany · Rating 4 out of 5]

ARC was provided by publisher in exchange for an honest review.
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Power Hungry by Suzanne Cope centers around two women, both activists, who use food to help inspire and support their communities. Cleo Silvers helped support her NYC community by serving meals to children via the Black Panthers’ Free Breakfast for Children. Aylene Quin, who served meals to Freedom Riders who were arrested, going to the jail to provide meals despite being threatened by the KKK. These two women both in very different communities (Alyene was in the rural south while Cleo served meals in the urban North) but dealt with similar struggles with poverty and police harassment.

It’s also a wider view of how the Black Power movements served food as a way of creating trust between the organizations like the Black Panthers Party and the communities in need. These programs weren’t just about the food, it was about providing a safe space for people who were harassed on a regular basis by white supremacists and police.

Power Hungry gives an intimate view of just how smoothly the programs ran mostly because of the dedication of the women that ran them. Afeni Shakur expanded her local chapter to work with local businesses to provide clothing and shoes to community members who needed it. Cleo found herself supporting local addicts who wanted to kick their heroin habits. These women weren’t just boxed into specific roles, they did the necessary tasks no matter how menial to provide services to their neighborhoods that just weren’t available.

Author Suzanne Cope doesn’t shy away from the role of the FBI’s COINTEL program on its illegal and abusive policies that eventually succeeded in fracturing the New York City chapter from the National Black Panther Party. Pointing towards the Black Panther Panther’s community organizing results that endangered Hoover’s racist agenda, Cope meticulously details the sabotage that ranged from ignoring bombings of Black family’s homes by the KKK to how FBI’s planted agents who wrecked havoc on the organization.

While this is the definitive source on how the Black Panther Party Free Food programs worked, I wish there was more insight to how these programs affected the children who participated in them? Did those children in turn become community organizers? When the programs stopped were there any similar meal resources that communities relied on?

Even with these questions, Power Hungry is a critical read for anyone learning more about how Black organizers used food to uplift and inspire their communities and it’s still relevant today in the midst of the politicization of free school lunch programs.

[kuzieboo · Rating 3 out of 5]

This book is better than 3 stars, but not quite 4 stars in my opinion. It laid out a very interesting timeline and narrative of the Black Panther Party and the fight for civil and voting rights in the 1960s to 1970s. It also highlighted voices that are often missing from this narrative; for example, the author points out that most BPP chapters were mostly women. She makes a good point that Women’s work for the revolution was overlooked because feeding and nurturing are not considered roles of power…plus, a beret wearing, gun toting youth is much more photogenic and likely to sell newspapers than women serving hot food.

However, her argument did not feel adequately supported, though this could be because women’s contributions were not recorded. She make the claim that women’s work feeding the revolution is what really created change, and it doesn’t feel like she presents enough evidence to that. A lot of the book is elaboration, which is fine, but it’s elaboration that lacks teeth. I would have liked more quantitative evidence: how many children were fed and how did that lead to a decrease in truancy? What was the cost of feeding SNCC workers, and what was the average wage back then?

On the whole, I would recommend this to people interested in learning about just how systemic and violent voter suppression was, and who also have an interest in the Black Panther Party.

[Vanessa · Rating 5 out of 5]

🗣 young lords mention. but genuinely love that the author links the stories and connects the different political actions and groups like the rainbow coalition's community health/food/childcare peograms, sncc and core with voter registration.

the parallel stories of food programs is such an effective framework to guide the broader historical and political storytelling. in particular, I think it's useful as a counterpoint to the cynical "what meaningful political work are you doing" from people who think voting is the beginning and end of the work. this book highlights the ways it took and continues to take a variety of tactics to push towards greater liberation -- be that protests, guns, running for office when you know you won't win, or feeding people -- and the great efforts that the us government has undertaken to prevent people from feeding their communities and forming coalitions because they know how powerful both can be.

[Melanie · Rating 5 out of 5]

Often history is seen through a male perspective, and this history book offers a woman’s perspective on two very important events in the Civil Rights movement. Aylene Quin and Cleo Silvers played a vital yet often forgotten role in 20th Century history, and thanks to this book, I feel as if I have gained significant perspective on both the Black Panthers and Freedom Summer. An important historic resource for any American.

[Laura Valenziano · Rating 4 out of 5]

A new perspective on the Black Panther Party and activism in Macomb, Mississippi in the 1960's. I enjoyed the book, but it was a little confusing as she jumped between the stories of two women: Cleo Silvers and Aylene Quin. However, it was nice to hear about some of the work Black women did during the civil rights movement, as they are so often ignored in history books of the era. Well worth a read!

[Reading · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lacks cohesiveness. Does a decent job of talking about the Free Breakfast program for the Black Panthers and also the efforts of the Freedom Summer in Mississippi. But the connection to “Mama Quin” often feels tenuous and shoehorned in. As do the references to food. I realize this is the author’s thesis, but it often seems like an afterthought.

Still, I learned a lot and her writing style is clear and concise.

[Leo David · Rating 4 out of 5]

A wonderful weaving of activist stories that inspire a new kind of change. It leaves us wondering, what do we not know, who’s stories are yet to be heard? It’s also interesting to hear that many of the people she interviewed feel hopeful, not distraught, by the fact that they are seeing many of the same issues come into the spotlight again with a new group of young folks. Hunger for change and hunger for togetherness. A humbling and well researched reminder that it takes all kinds.

[Angela · Rating 4 out of 5]

Power Hungry is an very important book detailing the work of the free breakfast program and other work the Black Panther Party took part in during the 1960s and 1970s. The FBI caught wind that the BPP was helping people, getting them food, and clothes and helping them feel better about themselves- growing a community- the FBI didn't like that, especially when the BPP started to help poor white folks. The U.S. government is responsible for so many horrific acts against its own citizens. Food was destroyed to avoid feeding hungry people. The BPP free breakfast program was denoted as "the single biggest threat" to American security!!!! Young children were being fed, their brains and souls were nourished which set them up for greater success.

It is very sad to see how little we have moved forward as human beings.

[Jill Niemeier]

This was a clear and concise look at the role of food in an activist movement. It looks at why the FBI/cointelpro viewed the Panthers’ survival programs as such large threats. It highlights the concept of “activist mothering” and food as a tool of social and political change. I think this would be a great read whether you’re already familiar with the Panthers or not!

[Lauren King · Rating 3 out of 5]

This was a solid book. The content was stirring & powerful -- it started out feeling a bit overly academic, but as I delved deeper into it I started to feel her passion more. The prose was not excellent, but I learned a ton about the Black Panthers, community organizing, & I thought the focus on women’s role & food as a tool of revolution accessible to women was well done.

[Barrett · Rating 3 out of 5]

This is a well-written account of a few of the women who supported two important moments in civil rights in America in the 1960's. But I was left wanting more information about the origins and history of the Black Panthers than what this book offers.

[Stephanie · Rating 2 out of 5]

I wanted to like it. Title is misleading. Haley’s review was pretty spot on.

[Vicki Day · Rating 5 out of 5]

Such a fascinating time in history especially for women and how they united for common causes.

[Katie ratherbereadinggg · Rating 4 out of 5]

4 stars

[KaWoodtiereads · Rating 4 out of 5]

I am currently focused on reading 1960s US history. This was a great microhistory on some notable women of the Black Panther Party. I learned about 'Activist Mothering' where, historically, women have taken on the role of caretaker within social/political movements. Lacking a seat at the table where decisions are made, women found themselves mothering others, and within this role, they strengthened their community. I can not imagine what it must have been like to own a restaurant as a Black woman in Mississippi in the 1960s. Reading about how one woman risked everything to give people a safe place to organize was fascinating.
I also enjoyed learning more about how the Black Panthers started the first Free Breakfast Program in the United States.