--- title: The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs | TIME description: The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school. canonical: https://time.com/video/28opNCMF/ og:title: The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs og:description: The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school. og:url: https://time.com/video/28opNCMF/ og:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/28opNCMF/poster.jpg?width=720 og:type: video.other twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs twitter:description: The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school. twitter:image: https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/28opNCMF/poster.jpg?width=720 --- # The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs > Sponsored content. 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They are at time.com/newsletters and are separate from a paid subscription. ## Video: The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs [Watch (HLS stream): The History You Didn't Learn: The Black Panthers' Health Programs](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/28opNCMF.m3u8) (9:52)  _Published 2021-02-25. The History You Didn't Learn is a series that sheds light on past events that may have been omitted, misleading, or just downright wrong in our history education in school._ --- Jul 28, 2023 4:16 AM UTC --- ## More From This Series [All Videos](https://time.com/video/) [The History You Didn't Learn: The Lavender Scare](/video/7jWjdOdm/) ### The History You Didn't Learn: The Lavender Scare [The History You Didn't Learn: Black Women and the Right to Vote](/video/quG5ZZp3/) ### The History You Didn't Learn: Black Women and the Right to Vote [The History You Didn't Learn: Latinas in the Labor Movement](/video/Y0oOfDDS/) ### The History You Didn't Learn: Latinas in the Labor Movement --- ## Transcript I've been going around and talking to Young students, from fourth grade all the way through two phds. And usually, the questions that people ask me was where you guys keep your gun. Why didn't you like white people? I think still in schools are still recognized as a black nationalist, paid movement and there was never hate is better Fact. One of the things that Drew me to Black Panther pray that they love the people so much. Is that in order to do that kind of work in order to be that Focus, you had a really love the people The Black Panthers are one of the most misunderstood civil rights groups in American history. Started in 1966 by Huey. P Newton and Bobby seale as a way to protect black communities against police brutality. The Panthers are often depicted as a violent organization, but many of their contributions to the communities, they serve, especially in terms of healthcare, I left out of History textbooks. I think the dominant message from from almost every textbook I seen is putting the Panthers in what civil rights dollars have called it a quenching narrative, which is basically this idea that, you know, once the Black Power movement starts on but really after King's death in 1968, the Civil Rights Movement to Clines and you get these black radicals, we're just demanding too much, and nonsensically, turning to Violent tactics. I don't Think I seen a single text book that mentions the hundred or so social programs that the Black Panthers ran and they work with all four people. In fact they saw themselves as a single mother to Kingsport even forgetting King was assassinated. He was leading what he called, the Poor People's campaign King advocated as a Democratic Socialist against the, what he called, the Expo, dependents of materialism and capitalism Men show that they weren't static that they didn't have to be that way, but that there were ways in which to make those changes that were necessary in particular. Free Quality Healthcare was one of the key elements of the program of the Black Panther Party came to the South Bronx in the sixties as a healthcare volunteer and later joined the Harlem branch of the Black Panthers. Now, you know, the South Bronx is the congressional district in the united states with the lowest income per capita. It was then and continues to be today. So the conditions in the South Bronx or something that I had never seen before. Hospital was known for its horrendous treatment of it's predominantly black and brown patients. In fact conditions were so bad. That a 1970, silver star part in a protest for Community activist, including the Panthers, occupy the hospital for one day in hospital. Known as The Butcher. Shop conditions were really horrible. People were waiting for 72 hours to get Sting. There's no heat in the emergency room is really bad stories about Lincoln Hospital in and what could happen to you. If you had to go to Lincoln Hospital when we talked about the impact of racism and the Healthcare System, I mean there is a long history of medical discrimination. You know, we can think of the history that involves blackbody. He's being used as guinea pigs, black women and women of color going to the doctors and getting illegally sterilize it. So this is cost a lot of mistrust and didn't you VIP code matters, black communities that are in disenfranchising area. We have a history of not being protected and so Part of the history of medical discrimination is what the Panthers or tries to fight everything. From first aid, they had a free ambulance program, they had sickle cell anemia test, they had gynecological exam, Optometry Services, I mean, physical exam, there are tons of services that the Black Panther Party offered. When we talk about Health Care Program to go door-to-door and really test for diseases, like tuberculosis anemia diabetes. These are preventable diseases. We go in and we dirty an elderly person and in some apartment who really needed to see a doctor, but they were afraid to go to the doctor. And that's how we would be be able to refer them to a place where, where they would be seen to be held before the illness, whatever illness they have, not too difficult for them, they was in the community. Educating offering tools to matically empower the black community in much of that understanding of the Black Panther Party, has been written out of the public perceptions of the organization, it has a lot to do with the FBI and corns. Help cointelpro, which stands for counterintelligence program, was the FBI's illegal surveillance scheme. They looked at the Panthers at the threat and so they did everything. You can think of from infiltrating the organization to pushing lies in the media. The Panthers were actually about restorative care. They were actually about healing the community mind body and soul, and MF place in the margins of the history of the party disbanded in 1982. But the legacy of the Black Panthers continues to this day, it was stop and stare at them before long. But you need to take some over the community runs them. So you can point to community clinics health clinics pool program food banks, free bus in the prison programs list goes on there. Still alive. And well, today as its tensions in between waking a program to the party started. There are many kids that go to my high school, that get their Healthcare from the Carolyn Downs Clinic that was started by the Black Panther Party and they don't know the history of where it came from. And it's really sad because if students knew where their Healthcare was coming from, they would gain lessons about how to organize and struggle against those barriers today. Panthers work, Drew attention to Health Care disparities that covid-19 has made even more apparent today and their legacy of Community Care is carried on by activists like dr. Ala Stanford, who founded the black doctors covid-19 Consortium in Philadelphia. April 3rd, America's before being diagnosed and dying from coronavirus at reach greater than every other group in our city. We now know that's pervasive throughout the nation and was like the first time I sat in medical school naive excited. I was realizing my dream 22 and listening to a teacher say yeah. There's a social determinants of health and black people have poor health outcomes. They have a shorter life expectancy they do worse with cancer hypertension, diabetes surgery. And so when I heard it on April 3rd, It was like dang I've been here before only. It was 23 freaking years ago that I heard this same story and I said no, not this time. I'm not going to sit and listen. I'm not going to internalize that pain and just accepted as truth. I want to change the narrative. The black doctor is covid-19 Consortium. Brought covid, testing and Medical Aid into black neighborhoods that typically have reduced access to healthcare. They've tested more than 26,000 people for covid-19 and of provide a basic health services like flu shots. Now, the Consortium is holding code vaccination clinics for highly impacted communities. Just like racism is baked in every other aspect of of capitalism in this country. It's baked into the healthcare system. And I think because of that, that free and Equitable access to healthcare has always been a part of the black Freedom struggle, especially during the Civil Rights. Then I think if we're ever to get change the healthcare system in this country we have to learn from the civil rights movement and and and the folks who who fought for free and Equitable access. 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