While Black women had been integral to the party’s success almost from the start, developing schools, writing the newsletter, feeding children breakfast in the morning - it was marred by sexism.

When we think of the Black Panther Party, we imagine Huey Newton positioned powerfully in a rattan chair. We picture black leather-clad men in black berets throwing up the Black power fist. And while those images are powerful, they don’t tell the entire truth about the party. In reality, according to The International Socialist Review, the party was predominately female. In fact. in a survey conducted in 1969 by Chairman Bobby Seale, membership was 60 percent female. But despite their dominance in the party and their innumerable contributions, sexism has ensured that the significance of their role has been diminished with the passage of time.

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