Before the Black Panther Party, there was the Lowndes County Freedom Organization

The Marc Steiner Show

Early in 1966, the people of Lowndes County, Alabama formed an all-Black, independent political organization called the Lowndes County Freedom Organization (LCFO). Organized with the support of activists from the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), the LCFO fought the disenfranchisement of Black voters against the palpable threat of white violence. The LCFO was a crucial chapter in the early history of Black Power, providing not only the blueprint for Kwame Ture's theory of Black Power but also the black panther imagery that would inspire Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale to form the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Oakland just a few months later. Former SNCC organizers Jennifer Lawson and Courtland Cox join The Marc Steiner Show to offer an oral history of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Lowndes County Freedom Organization.
Jennifer Lawson joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) in 1966 and was elected to its central coordinating committee. She designed the Black Panther symbol and campaign materials for the Lowndes Country Freedom Organization. Lawson continued her civil rights work for several more years before becoming an executive and producer in public television. She currently works with the SNCC Legacy Project to preserve the history of the movement and to encourage young activists to document their stories.
Courtland Cox joined SNCC as a student at Howard University in 1960, and appeared as the representative of the organization's central committee at the 1963 March on Washington. He helped organize the 1964 Freedom Summer in Mississippi, and was also one of the organizers of the Lowndes County Freedom Organization. Later in life, he served as Secretary General of the Sixth Pan-African Congress in Tanzania, as well as on the Board of TransAfrica. He was appointed by President Clinton to serve as the Director of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA) at the U.S. Department of Commerce. He currently serves as board chair of the SNCC Legacy Project.
Studio/Post-Production: David Hebden
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