February 14–August 31, 2018
Briscoe Center for American History, Austin, Texas
Hall Gallery
Photographer Stephen Shames first met Bobby Seale, Black Panther Party co-founder, at an anti-Vietnam War demonstration in 1967. Over the following years, Shames’s friendship with Seale allowed him rare access to the Panthers and their organization. Shames’s photographic archive, acquired by the Briscoe Center, provides unusual behind-the-scenes views of the Party’s nationwide organization, community outreach work, and personal lives. This exhibit featured Shames’s photographs of Panther members and leaders, rallies, demonstrations, and nationwide activity. Together, these photographs revealed lesser-known sides of an organization whose image is often only perceived as militant.
