This Day in History

April 6, 1968: Bobby Hutton Killed by Oakland Police

Time Periods: 1961
Themes: African American, Criminal Justice & Incarceration, Racism & Racial Identity
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By Emory Douglas. Click to learn more.

Robert James Hutton or Little Bobby Hutton (Apr 21, 1950 – Apr 6, 1968) was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party (BPP).

Hutton’s family had moved to Oakland from Arkansas as part of the Great Migration, fleeing threats of white supremacist violence from nightriders.

On April 6, 1968, in a shoot out with Oakland police, Hutton was killed. He was shot more than twelve times, despite having already surrendered.

“Lil’ Bobby Hutton Day” has been held annually in DeFremery Park in West Oakland since 1998.

Find lessons and other resources below to teach outside the textbook about the Black Panther Party, COINTELPRO, and the police.

Related Resources
COINTELPRO | Zinn Education Project
Teaching Activities (Free)

COINTELPRO: Teaching the FBI’s War on the Black Freedom Movement

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. Rethinking Schools. 29 pages.
Through examining FBI documents, students learn the scope of the FBI’s COINTELPRO campaign to spy on, infiltrate, discredit, and disrupt all corners of the Black Freedom Movement.

Teaching Activities (Free)

“Riots,” Racism, and the Police: Students Explore a Century of Police Conduct and Racial Violence

Teaching Activity. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca.
Students explore three documents produced in the wake of three major episodes of racial violence (1919, 1967, 2014) to understand the long trajectory of police violence in Black communities.

Teaching Activities (Free)

What We Don’t Learn About the Black Panther Party — but Should

Teaching Activity. By Adam Sanchez and Jesse Hagopian. Rethinking Schools. 33 pages.
A mixer lesson introduces students to the pivotal history of the Black Panthers.

If We Knew Our History

What We Don’t Learn About the Black Panther Party — but Should

Article. By Adam Sanchez and Jesse Hagopian. If We Knew Our History series.
The local organizing that Black Panthers engaged in — giving the poor access to decent housing, health care, education, and much more — has been erased in the textbooks, yet it is precisely what won them such widespread support.

A photograph of Black Panther children in a classroom with their teacher, Evon Carter, widow of Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, at the Intercommunal Youth Institute, the Black Panther Party school.
Spanish/Bilingual, Teaching Activities (Free)

‘What We Want, What We Believe’: Teaching with the Black Panthers’ 10-Point Program

Teaching Activity. By Wayne Au. Rethinking Schools. 7 pages.
How students can use the Black Panther Party’s 10-Point Program to assess issues in their own communities and to develop 10-Point Programs of their own. Available in Spanish.

Howard Protest 1968
If We Knew Our History

What Happened to the Civil Rights Movement After 1965? Don’t Ask Your Textbook

Article. By Adam Sanchez. If We Knew Our History series.
Too often, students are taught that the Civil Rights Movement ended in 1965 with passage of the Voting Rights Act. It didn’t. Adam Sanchez argues that it is essential to teach the long, grassroots history of the Civil Rights Movement in order to help students think about today’s movements for racial justice.

Teaching for Black Lives (Book) Zinn Education Project
Teaching Guides

Teaching for Black Lives

Teaching Guide. Edited by Dyan Watson, Jesse Hagopian, Wayne Au. 2018. Rethinking Schools. 368 pages.
Essays, teaching activities, role plays, poems, and artwork, designed to illuminate the movement for Black students’ lives, the school-to-prison-pipeline, Black history, gentrification, intersectional Black identities, and more.

This Day in History

Oct. 15, 1966: The Black Panther Party Founded

The Black Panther Party sought justice for African Americans and other oppressed communities through a combination of revolutionary theory, education, and community programs.

This Day in History

Dec. 4, 1969: Black Panther Party Members Assassinated

Black Panther Party members Fred Hampton and Mark Clark were assassinated by police and FBI agents in Chicago, Illinois.