Bobby Seale is the co-founder of the now defunct Black Panther Party. He was born in 1936 and was the oldest of three children born to George and Thelma Seale. He was named Robert George Seale at birth. The family initially lived in Texas, but due to their poor financial situation, they travelled around a lot to Dallas, San Antonio, Port Arthur and California. Seale attended Berkeley High School, but dropped out midway to join the U.S. Air Force in 1955. He was discharged after three years due to an altercation with his commanding officer. After being discharged, he worked as a mechanic at different aerospace plants and attended school at night in order to earn his high school diploma. He later enrolled at Merritt College to study engineering and politics. Here he met Huey P. Newton through an organization called Afro-American Association (AAA). Seale was also a member of the Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity.
Seale and Newton were heavily influenced by the teachings of Malcolm X, the revolutionary black leader who founded the organization “Nation of Islam”. Using his teachings, they founded their own organization called the Black Panther Party who adopted the slogan of “Freedom by any means necessary”. Seale became the organization’s chairman. The party did not hesitate to use violent means to achieve their means, and rejected the non-violent teachings propagated by other civil right leaders. The organization began to take a more formal structure and spread its roots in several other cities across America.
In 1970, Bobby Seale wrote a book called “Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton” which included a detailed account of the formation of the Black Panther Party and its teachings. Shortly after, he was arrested for protesting and inciting violence at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago. Seale was a part of the group called “Chicago Eight” who were charged with conspiracy, a story which was later adapted into an HBO film called “Conspiracy: The Trial of the Chicago 8”. He was
