Artists in West Oakland have finished painting a Black Panther Party mural which commemorates the many women behind the movement.
An accompanying mini-museum is also now open to the public.
The two-story mural is painted on the side of a house at Center and Dr. Huey P. Newton Way, a street recently renamed after the Black Panther Party co-founder who was killed in the city.
"I know people that have come from different parts of Oakland and the Bay Area to see it," Yvonne, a woman who lives near the mural, told KCBS Radio. "It has been really well received and many people have said 'I didn’t really know about this.'"
In the late 1960s, hundreds of young women joined the movement, helping with voter registration, and distributing food and medicine in their communities, a program depicted by the mural.
“The true history is just coming out and this will hopefully spark interest in people learning more about what the Panthers represented, who they were,” Yvonne said. The mini-museum inside the building retells the storied history of the Black Panthers.
Len Bryant, who lives across the street from the house, said the women artists painting the mural continue to work on the project. "They’re not done," he told KCBS Radio. "I saw them yesterday…they added the stars there, the symbols at the bottom."
The artists are also adding the names of many of the women in the Black Panther Party.
Related
