Keeping our history alive: An interview with Black Panther Party archivist Billy X Jennings

“Power is the ability to define phenomenon and make it work in a desired manner.” – Huey P. Newton

by Leah Harmony

The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense is a loaded title. Hearing it often provokes the mainstream mockingbird media to regurgitate images of guns, leather jackets and power struggles. This is by the design of powers unseen. They want our memory of revolution trapped in ice, or promoting fear and chaos rather than inspiring organized power. But revolution was never just Beyoncé in all black on Super Bowl Sunday, replayed on the evening news. It was 10,000 bags of free groceries packed for the elderly in East Oakland. It was free sickle cell anemia screenings on neighborhood blocks before the federal government even acknowledged the disease. It was busing mothers and grandmothers to visit their people behind bars, and it was hot breakfast served to hungry children every single morning before the school bell rang.

Nobody alive understands the vast, living architecture of that struggle like Billy X Jennings.

His comrades and community call him “BJ.”

Jennings has spent decades serving as the official archivist and institutional memory of the Black Panther Party. Joining the Party in Oakland during the explosive summer of 1968 at just 17 years old, he rose through the ranks from Panther-in-training to running the East Oakland branch office, eventually serving at Central Headquarters as an aide to both Chief of Staff David Hilliard and Minister of Defense Huey P. Newton.

When the Party’s formal organization dissolved in 1982, the work did not. Recognizing that an oppressed people who rely on their oppressors to document their history will always have their narrative stolen and watered down, Jennings co-founded the alumni committee It’s About Time in 1996. Since then, he has meticulously collected, preserved, digitized and safeguarded more than 400 issues of The Black Panther newspaper, thousands of rare photographs, audio recordings and original documents from chapters across the globe.

As we mark the historic 60th anniversary of the Black Panther Party (1966-2026) and celebrate Black Panther History Month, BJ remains steadfast on the frontlines. Speaking with BJ was as fascinating as it was an honor. We had a two-hour conversation about his life, the real meaning of survival pending revolution, the necessity of community archives and the monthlong celebrations honoring the Panthers’ enduring legacy happening now. .

“Patience has its limits. Take it too far and its cowardice.” – Field Marshall George Jackson, a former prisoner of war who was assassinated in San Quentin, on August 21, 1971.

The Q&A: In conversation with Billy X Jennings

Leah: For people who don’t know what an archivist does, why don’t you explain that first?

BJ: When I explain being an archivist to people, I tell them it’s a person who collects items on certain subjects. What I do is collect information about the Black Panther Party in particular, but in general, what was happening between 1965 and 1975 around the Party. I collect newspaper articles, magazine articles, photographs and interviews — everything that pertains to the legacy from the growth of the Party in 1966 all the way to the end in 1982, and the resurgence from 1995 to the present.

We had 40-something offices and international support groups in various countries. So it’s collecting information not just about what was going on in America, but worldwide in the Black Panther Party diaspora — chapters and branches in New Zealand, Australia, the UK, Israel, Tanzania and Algeria.

Since I’ve been archivist, I’ve encouraged each chapter and branch to get their own history. If we don’t collect and have our own information and a source for our information, we’re relying on the enemy or sources beyond our community to determine what’s factual for us.

Leah: How did you first join the Party in Oakland?

BJ: I joined in the summer of 1968. I was 17 years old. I had just moved to Oakland from Coronado, California, where my dad was in the service. I went to summer school at Laney College because Laney was the first junior college offering a Black history class.

One day, I was in class and heard chanting: “Free Huey! Off the pig!” Huey Newton’s trial was starting three blocks away at the Alameda County Courthouse. I followed the chanting, saw this big demonstration in support of Huey, and around that same time I was reading The Autobiography of Malcolm X. I started attending rallies every day, learning about the Party. One of the distribution managers for the newspaper lived in my apartment complex, and he started taking me to political education classes.

Back in those days, you had to go through a six-week training period. You couldn’t just become a Panther. You had a book list with 30 or 35 books — Chairman Mao’s Red Book, Frantz Fanon, other revolutionaries. You had to digest that, learn the rules of the Party, attend political education classes twice a week, sell The Black Panther newspaper and obtain a weapon for self-defense. On my 18th birthday, Sept. 8, 1968, the leadership promoted me to be an honorary Panther. That was the exact day the jury came back with the verdict of involuntary manslaughter in Huey’s trial, and the police went crazy — they even shot up our office on 45th and Grove that night.

Leah: How did you move from working the offices to being assigned directly to Huey P. Newton?

BJ: Because I had office skills, I was promoted to staff at the East Oakland office on 73rd and East 14th, and later put in charge of it. After about a year and a half, I was promoted to Central Headquarters working closely with David Hilliard.

When Huey got out of jail on appeal in 1970, the Central Committee promoted me to be one of Huey’s aides. My job was to be with Huey when he went to court, have lunch with him and our attorney Charles Garry, and make sure he got there safely. Out of that, the Central Committee and Huey had me working with his family. Mr. and Mrs. Newton were senior citizens and couldn’t drive anymore. I was living three blocks from the family, so part of my responsibility was taking care of the Newton family — driving them to the pharmacy, mowing their lawn and looking out for them.

Leah: What caused the Party to expand beyond self-defense into all the community survival programs?

BJ: In 1968, we dropped “for Self-Defense” from our name because we were more than just a self-defense organization. If you look at our Ten-Point Program, we became an organization that dealt with a multitude of community problems.

It really started with the Free Breakfast for Children Program in 1969 at St. Augustine’s Church on 27th and West Street. Because we had over 40 offices across the country, Bobby Seale made every office start a breakfast program, and it became a national movement.

Then we opened free medical clinics. If you were a doctor, nurse or med student, you could volunteer. We created the Senior Escort Service. When we first started, we used station wagons that people donated, driving seniors to the bank to cash their checks safely so they wouldn’t get mugged.

We had the Oakland Community School, which served 200 students, plus after-school programs where youth learned music, martial arts and Afro-Haitian dance. In 1972, we gave away 10,000 free bags of groceries in East Oakland, tested 7,000 to 8,000 people for sickle cell anemia, and registered 5,000 to 6,000 people to vote in a single campaign. The social programs made the difference because the people saw the Panthers helping their grandmothers, feeding their kids and providing services the system refused to give.

Leah: How did “It’s About Time” come together in 1996, and how did you start the archive?

BJ: In the 1980s, I lived in Mountain View, Sacramento and New York, but when I came back to Sacramento in 1995, many former Party members had migrated from Oakland to Sacramento. We started running into each other at soccer games and pool parties, and someone said, “Hey, our 30th reunion is coming up. We should do something.”

In 1996, we organized the 30-year reunion at Jack London Square in Oakland, and about 400 Panthers showed up. The energy was so high — like Fred Hampton used to say, people got high on the revolution! Nobody wanted to let that feeling go.

There was money left over, so I started publishing a newsletter called It’s About Time. I sent it to about 600 Panthers, and it grew.

In 1997, along with young comrades like JR Valrey and Boots Riley from the Young Comrades, we organized Geronimo Ji-Jaga Day when Geronimo got out of prison after 27 years. In 1998, we started Bobby Hutton Day, which still happens every year. That same year, I launched the It’s About Time website (itsabouttimebpp.com) because there was no website dedicated to Panther history run by a Panther. People saw it and started donating materials, letters and collections.

Leah: You have a deep relationship with the SF Bay View newspaper. How do you see the paper’s role in this lineage?

BJ: The Bay View paper to me is just like The Black Panther newspaper of today. There is no other newspaper in this nation that carries more information about the Black Panther Party than the Bay View. Not the Amsterdam News, not the Chicago Defender, not the Los Angeles Sentinel.

The Bay View carries more prisoner news and grassroots Bay Area news than any other outlet. When I got back to California, we had a Books Behind Bars program, and that free Black newspaper was the biggest feature. We had hundreds of prisoners on our list, and that paper made every prison — Pelican Bay, Folsom, San Quentin, Angola in Louisiana, Beaumont in Texas. Fifty or 60 brothers would pass around that one paper until it was worn out.

Leah: Tell us about the events happening this month for the 60th anniversary and Black Panther History Month.

BJ: In 2001, It’s About Time created the concept of Black Panther History Month in October so chapters across the country didn’t have to pack everything onto one day.

This October, for the 60th anniversary, we have several major events:

Alameda County Law Library exhibit: Running from Oct. 6 through January at 125 12th St. in Oakland (across from the Oakland Museum). It focuses on the Black Panther Party and the law, including the 10-Point Program, the murder of Bobby Hutton and historic legal battles. The opening reception is Friday, Oct. 16, from 1 to 4 p.m.

Oakland Main Library exhibit: Running from Oct. 6 through January in the Oakland History Room at 14th and Oak Street. The reception is Thursday, Oct. 15, from 5 to 7 p.m., kicking off our four-day conference.

Oakland Museum program: On Friday night, Oct. 16, from 5 to 9 p.m., the museum is hosting a special Panther program featuring artists and bands.

Conference workshops: During the conference, I’m hosting a workshop called “Chapter Histories” so people can learn about the work done in Chicago, New York, Seattle and beyond directly from comrades who organized there.

Day in Bobby Hutton Park: On Sunday, Oct. 18, from noon to 5 p.m. at DeFremery Park (18th and Adeline in West Oakland), we’ll have music, speakers, food and a gathering for comrades and community. We just added Money B who will be signing his new book: A DU Party Don’t stop: The Money B Story.

I also have a book coming out titled Keeping Our Legacy Alive: The Memoirs of Billy X Jennings, Black Panther Party Historian.

Talking to Billy X Jennings is a reminder that the Black Panther Party was never a brief moment in time; they left a blueprint for human liberation that is perhaps even more relevant now. The powers-that-shouldn’t-be spent billions of the people’s dollars erasing revolutionary memory, whitewashing struggle into vanilla corporate holidays and textbook sidebars.

Archivists like BJ are the antidote to historical amnesia. By guarding the photographs, the original correspondence, the underground newspapers and the firsthand documentation of survival programs, he makes sure that the next generation of freedom fighters does not have to figure it out themselves, from square one.

As BJ says, archiving begins at home.

It begins when we label our family photos, record the stories of our elders and preserve our community newspapers. We need to hold safe our story for history.

To explore the archives, view historic films or support the work of Black Panther alumni, visit itsabouttimebpp.com .

Leah Harmony is a journalist and Manager of Production at the San Francisco Bay View. She can be reached at leah@sfbayview.com

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