We talk with former Black Panther Ericka Huggins and award-winning photojournalist Stephan Shames about their new book ‘Comrad Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party.‘ This is a must-read as the book is captivating, inspiring, and insightful. It meticulously details many of the trials and triumphs of the women who made up 60% of one of the most impactful organizations within the Black Freedom Movement. The text is not heady and over-the-top academic speak. It’s plain and to the point and direct reflections of women both within leadership and members of the rank and file of the BPP. The pages are filled with short essays from women who shared with us their experiences, observations, and motivations for joining the BPP. Each written vignette is accompanied by incredible full-sized pictures that captured important moments in time.
This is a book that goes beyond words and photos. It’s something about it that you feel. As Ericka Huggins has long noted, what motivated many of the Panthers was a deep unapologetic love for the community and liberation of Black people. This book captures that sentiment, and you find yourself not wanting to put it down.
Many of the photos capture Panther sisters carrying out the day-to-day activities and organizing that on the surface can seem mundane but in actuality, they were revolutionary in scope because whether they were teaching in classrooms, making breakfast for school kids, tending to folks at their free health clinics or giving away bags of groceries. The Panthers were serving the community and doing what the government steadfastly refused to do… Their individual and collective actions were big blows to oppression and that angered lots of people who weren’t expecting a bunch of 18/ 19 years old to flip the script. The Panthers and in particular the women served the people fiercely and with love… Unyielding, deep-seated love. That comes through on the pages of this book.
As much as I love the Marvel movie Black Panther and its mesmerizing women warriors, the Dora Milaje, the words of the women penned throughout this book and the haunting photos remind us that we were blessed to have real-life superheroines within our mist. They were the women of the Black Panther Party of Self-Defense.
Leave a Reply