W-S Black Panther Party celebrates 55th anniversary, sponsors events during visit by ‘Mama C’

By Felecia Piggott-Long, Ph.D. In 1969, Winston-Salem became the first Southern city to establish a chapter of the Black Panther Party. On the state, local and national level, the chief purpose of the Black Panther Party was to protect African American neighborhoods from police brutality and other forms of oppression. Later the organization offered several community service programs such as the Joseph Waddell People’s Free Ambulance program, which received national acclaim, free breakfast program for school children, and sickle cell anemia testing The Black Panther Party agitated for meaningful change during turbulent times of social and political upheaval. A special marker was erected in honor of the Party in 2012 at the intersection of East 5th Street and North Martin Luther King, Jr. Drive.   From Oct. 27 – 30, the local Black Panther Party sponsored several events: a healing service at Dellabrook Presbyterian Church; an official welcome for Mama C, known as Charlotte O’Neal, at the Carter G. Woodson School; a public conversation with Mama C at Wake Forest University in the Puch Auditorium in the Benson University Center; and a reception for the 55th anniversary of the local chapter at Other Suns Coffee Shop. World-renowned, elder and servant of...