During the height of the Civil Rights Movement, Huey B. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the radical Black Panther Party in Oakland, Calif., to promote justice and autonomy for African Americans, which lasted through the 1980s. The group had its own San Francisco-based newspaper, The Black Panther, which often featured the artwork of Emory Douglas.
Today at 4 p.m., the Mills International Center will also feature the artwork of Douglas, the one-time Black Panther Party minister of culture. Based on his new book, “Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas,” Douglas will deliver a presentation of political artwork.
“His art, if you really analyze it, speaks words,” said University freshman James Brannon, an intern with the Multicultural Center and a member of the Black Student Union. “I know pictures speak a thousand words, but his speak so much more than that if you really look at them.”
Black Arts Festival
| Before Emory Douglas delivers his presentation in the Mills International Center, he will speak in the EMU Amphitheater as part of the Black Student Union’s Black Arts Festival. Douglas is “someone who pretty much encompasses black art, the way he uses art to express black political thought,” said BSU co-director Donnell Adair, who said the BSU will also honor black music and poetry. The event, which is to take place in the EMU Amphitheater today from 11 a.m. until 4:30 p.m., will also include krumping workshops and a dunk tank, the proceeds from which will go toward future BSU events. Following the Black Arts Festival and “Black Panther: The Revolutionary Art of Emory Douglas,” there will be a free Skate-O-Rama party at Skate World in Springfield. In conjunction with the BSU’s 40th anniversary, the festival’s theme is “Recognizing Founders.” “We’re honoring them because if it weren’t for them, there’d be no us, pretty much,” Adair said. “(BSU) started as an organization that was meant to pacify people and shut them up. No one thought it would last, but here we stand.” |
Brannon’s favorite of Douglas’ pieces depicts an African American man tied to a chair, surrounded by bat-wielding pigs with stars pinned to their chests. The Black Panthers, who were committed to fighting police brutality, often referred to police officers as “pigs.”
“You see most artists and some paintings, they were just depressed,” Brannon said. “But for what (these pieces) did for the black newspaper, it speaks on different levels for me personally. They’re all powerful in their own way.”
Steve Morozumi, program adviser for the MCC, said political art is his favorite. He thinks personal struggles make for much more interesting paintings and poetry.
“The broad theme is maybe the impact of art on politics and the reciprocal relationship between art and politics,” he said. “(Douglas’) art inspired and educated about people in the black community, as far as their standard of living, what they had to cope with in relation to police control and harassment, a lot of the time.”
Brannon said, “We wanted the Eugene community to see a different aspect of history. Different groups play a role in history so it’s beneficial into learning something about the Panther movement.”
Morozumi said this event ties into the University’s particular history. In 1968, Elmer and Aaron Dixon, two brothers who headed the Black Panther Party’s Seattle chapter, helped organize a Eugene chapter, which was joined by several University students.
Douglas, whose art has also been exhibited at the Museum of Contemporary Art in downtown Los Angeles, will be in the Mills International Center, located above the post office on the EMU’s mezzanine level, from 4 to 6 p.m. The event is free and open to the public; refreshments will be served.
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