Nine Lives of a Black Panther

A Story of Survival

Wayne Pharr, Wayne Pharr

• Publisher: Lawrence Hill Books
• Year: 2014
• Edition: 1
• eBook ISBN:
  9781613749197
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Social Science Biographies
• Index: Social Sciences

In the early morning hours of December 8, 1969, hundreds of SWAT officers engaged in a violent battle with a handful of Los Angeles–based members of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense (BPP). Five hours and 5,000 rounds of ammunition later, three SWAT team members and three Black Panthers lay wounded. For the Panthers and the community that supported them, the shootout symbolized a victory, and a key reason for that victory was the actions of a 19-year-old rank-and-file member of the BPP: Wayne Pharr. Nine Lives of a Black Panther tells Pharr's riveting story of life in the Los Angeles branch of the BPP and gives a blow-by-blow account of how it prepared for and survived the massive attack. He illuminates the history of one of the most dedicated, dynamic, vilified, and targeted chapters of the BPP, filling in a missing piece of Black Panther history and, in the process, creating an engaging and hard-to-put-down memoir about a time and place that holds tremendous fascination for readers interested in African American militancy.

Table of contents

• Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Contents
• Acknowledgments
• 1 Showdown at Sunrise
• 2 Back Home
• 3 Fighting Integration
• 4 Legitimate Grievances
• 5 Black Is Beautiful
• 6 A Necessary Step toward Justice
• 7 Committed to Watts
• 8 Leading Panthers
• 9 Divide and Conquer
• 10 Alpha and Omega
• 11 Serving the People
• 12 New Blood
• 13 Blood and Guts
• 14 Gettin’ Ready
• 15 Busted
• 16 Trying Times
• 17 Gangsta Style
• 18 Torn Asunder
• 19 The Promise of Tomorrow
• 20 The Limits of Freedom
• 21 Family Business
• Epilogue: Honor and Sacrifice
• “Was It Worth It”