Power to the People

In the modern civil rights era, there is perhaps no more stylistically radical use of imagery and graphic design than in the visual program of the Black Panther Party. Founded in 1966, the party supported a revolutionary agenda that advocated full employment, decent housing, education, and health care, and, in extreme cases, armed insurrection to achieve these goals. The party's visual program, embracing the latest techniques in graphic design, centered on a set vocabulary of motifs: slinking or roaring felines, mothers protectively embracing their children, stylized portraits of party leaders or role models, and, like this poster, gun-toting freedom fighters.