Black History Month

Seize the Time

Bobby Seale

Non-fiction, 1970

Written while Bobby Seale was serving a prison term, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton examines the politics of the Black Panthers. A former national chairman of the Black Panthers, Seale writes in ghetto vernacular as he discusses the origin of the Black Panther party and the beliefs of its founder, Huey Newton, on the need for African American pride and self-defense. In Seize the Time, Seale denounces the authority of black and white policemen, reveals his contempt for the separatism of black nationalists, and calls for an uprising of the underclass. The book includes Seale's accusations against high-level authorities as well as an account of his being bound and gagged at a Chicago trial.