Revolution in our Lifetime
This guide is to accompany the exhibit, “Revolution in Our Lifetime”: The Black Panther Party and Political Organizing in Baltimore, 1968–1973.
Date: April 12, 2024-May 26, 2024
When: Open during regular hours, plus after-hours special events
Location: The Peale, 225 Holliday Street, Baltimore
“Revolution in Our Lifetime”: The Black Panther Party and Political Organizing in Baltimore, 1968–1973 explores the founding, programs, and everyday activities of the Black Panther Party’s Baltimore chapter, as well as the party’s ideological foundations and state repression it experienced. The exhibit further examines the party’s links to other political organizations in the city within the broader context of political organizing in the period. The exhibit features rare artifacts, documents, and photographs, as well as copies of the party’s newspaper.
The exhibit examines the persistent racial segregation and bigotry that shaped the city at the time, which animated Black political organizing. Visitors will learn about the power of grassroots organizing against racism, as well as how regular people made demands for revolution in Baltimore. The Baltimore chapter’s history also illustrates how police mobilized copious resources to undermine and destroy the Black Panther Party. “Revolution in Our Lifetime” also addresses legacies and provides contemporary lessons from this era of political ferment in Baltimore. There are four main sections in the exhibition:
- “The Seeds of The Revolution: Children and Childhood in the Baltimore Chapter of the Black Panther Party” by Kai Clemons
- “Breaking Down the Ivory Tower: Dr. Rev. Chester L. Wickwire” by Gerardo Fontes
- “Not Just Attica: Carceral Uprisings in Baltimore and Maryland in the late 1960s and early 1970s” by Emma Petite
- “Dare to Struggle and Dare to Win: The Baltimore chapter of the Black Panther Party’s modification and application of Maoism in community organizing” by Kristian Whitehead
To find out more, visit the Peale: https://www.thepeale.org/exhibition-black-panthers/