Free Breakfast for Children
The program began in January 1969 at Father Earl A. Neil's St. Augustine's Episcopal Church, located in West Oakland, California[1] and spread throughout the nation.
This program was an early manifestation of the social mission envisioned by Black Panther Party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, along with their founding of the Oakland Community School, which provided high-level education to 150 children from impoverished urban neighborhoods.
[2] Inspired by contemporary research about the essential role of breakfast for optimal schooling and the belief that alleviating hunger and poverty was necessary for Black liberation, the Panthers cooked and served food to the poor inner city youth of the area.
Two months later, in March 1969, the Black Panther Party opened its second Free Breakfast Program for Children at the Sacred Heart Church in San Francisco, California.
The program allowed the children of West Oakland's poor neighborhoods to eat a healthy nourishing meal in a safe, supportive environment before school, optimizing their ability to learn.
They also shaped the program to be a powerful symbol of racial injustice and ghetto marginalization in America by teaching liberation lessons while children ate their meal.
A typical breakfast often included some combination of bacon, eggs, grits, hotcakes, toast, sausage, and a glass of juice or milk.
In addition to feeding school children, the party started People's Free Food Programs, delivering groceries, and encouraging community members to vote.
[2] Another Survival Program started by the Black Panther Party was referred to as "medical self-defense" with the creation of healthcare clinics and their own ambulance services.
[1] Beckford-Smith, working with Father Earl A. Neil, constructed a healthy menu that would nourish children and created a kitchen and dining hall that passed health inspections.
The attention to their specific community needs earned the Seattle chapter a reputation of being influential both in Washington and in the United States in general.
[17] The Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther Party was led by Peter O’Neal and was composed of working-class, underclass, and middle-class African Americans.
The main focus of the Kansas City chapter was the discontentment of the African American working class, black youth, and building survival programs.
[18] The Kansas City chapter of the Black Panther Party successfully started two sites where free breakfast for school children was offered.
The support they received allowed the Kansas City chapter to not only feed the black community but also offer political education classes and free health screenings.
[18] The Des Moines, Iowa chapter of the Black Panther Party was successful in organizing a free breakfast program for children.
This final formation lasted approximately three years before it was forced to dissolve in August 1974, following orders from the national BPP leadership to relocate to Oakland.
[23] As a result, many agencies, such as the police and FBI, were documented to be a force in harassing and discrediting the program, the people it benefited, and the Black Panther Party organization.
The success of the Black Panther Party's Free Breakfast for Children program helped reduce hunger and food insecurity locally, while pressuring state and federal governments to expand their own services.
While the federally funded School Breakfast Program for underprivileged children was first piloted in 1966 by the US Department of Agriculture, Congress only permanently authorized it in 1975.
[25] Additionally, the implementation of this government-funded free breakfast program would cause controversy due to budget cuts made during Reagan’s presidency which would lead to widespread poverty across the United States.
