Maeve Plassche ’23
A Scepter of Terror or A Sword of Freedom: Elaine Brown’s time in the Black Panther Party
Maeve Plassche ’23, History/Secondary Education major
Faculty Mentor: Dr. Alyssa Lopez, History and Classics
This project highlights the activism of Elaine Brown, who was the only female chairperson of the Black Panther Party. It looks to enhance the way in which the Black Panther Party is remembered, by placing gender and gender relations in the center of the conversation. Even though women were crucial participants in the Party, they often did not receive the respect that their male counterparts did, and the historical scholarship, using male-centered sources, reiterates this point. While conducting research in the Dr. Huey P. Newton records, located the Stanford Libraries, I delved into the newspapers, internal Black Panther Party documents, pamphlets, speeches, memorandums, manuscripts, and letters. By engaging in deep textual analysis of these materials, a more in-depth look at Elaine Brown and her time as a member and leader of the Black Panther Party was possible. Overall, this project aims to demonstrate that Brown’s leadership was crucial in advancing the Black Panther Party from a self-defense organization to a major operator within the political and social worlds. Brown’s work and experiences within the Party shed much-needed light on what it was like to be a Panther and a woman and demonstrate the obstacles facing African American women during the Black Power movement.
Poster Presentation: Wednesday, April 26, 2 – 4 p.m.
