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Title on Reel (transcribed from original)
Black Panther Headquarters #8 E. Baker Street, 11-25-70, [0?]1005-1335
Date Created
1970-11-25
Reel Format
16mm
Reel Description
This reel contains police surveillance footage of individuals exiting and entering the Black Panther Party Information Center at 8 E. Baker Street in Richmond, Virginia, on November 25, 1970. The house has a large Black Panther banner on the front porch railing, and an article with the address appeared in the Richmond Times-Dispatch three days prior to this recording. It appears the BPP members were aware they were being surveilled, although the video is filmed from a distance.
Timestamp Description
00:00:14 Footage begins. Footage filmed from a distance which focuses on a residential house at 8 E. Baker Street in Richmond, with a single story brick structure visible to the right of the house at 6 E. Baker Street. The building appears to be two stories, with brick steps leading up to a porch with an overhang and railing. On the porch railing facing the street is a large white banner with a black panther drawn on it, with the words "Information Center" printed above the panther. On the front wall of the building, including over the two front facing windows and front door, are a number of posters, most of which are difficult to identify due to the distance of the footage. One of the images does appear to be a poster of a photograph of Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party (BPP). This photograph was taken by Blair Stapp and features Newton sitting in a rattan chair holding a rifle and a spear (Library of Congress). A Richmond Times-Dispatch article identified another image being of BPP co-founder Bobby Seale. Two individuals are visible walking down the front steps of the building.
00:00:16 One individual leans over the right side railing of the porch and spits at the ground below. The front door opens and another individual walks onto the porch, drapes a blanket or rug over the right side railing, and walks back into the house.
00:00:33 Two individuals exit the house and walk down the steps.
00:00:39 A postal worker delivers mail into the mailbox to the left of the front door, then walks down the steps.
00:00:49 A white car with a black roof parks in front of the house and an individual exits. They walk around the back of the car towards the house and seem to hold something under their jacket. They walk up the steps and into the house. As the camera pans right to follow them, writing on the window of the building next door is visible: "Jo Arthur's Beauty Salon, [Illegible Sentence], Phone [Illegible numbers], Air Conditioner".
00:01:01 A green car with a black roof parks in front of the house to the left of the BPP Information Center, this is likely 10 E. Baker Street. The camera pans right to the BPP house as the driver walks towards the house, the white car is still parked outside of 8 E. Baker Street. The individual enters the house.
00:01:18 One individual exits the house as two others enter the house. The white car is still parked outside.
An individual stands on the porch as another individual walks past the house, with a cat following at their heels. The white car is still parked outside.
00:01:28 One individual enters the house while another goes down the steps. The camera follows them to the left past the green car.
00:01:36 Two individuals walk left away from the house, one places something in the trunk of the green car.
00:01:43 A tan car drives past the house, the white car is still parked outside.
00:01:47 An individual walks down the steps of the house. The white car is still parked outside.
00:01:48 A tan car parks next to the white car outside and the driver walks into the house, a passenger is visible waiting in the tan car. Footage cuts and the individual gets back in the driver's seat of the tan car.
00:02:05 An individual walks up the steps and into the house, all cars are gone.
00:02:11 A car which appears to be the white car from earlier footage parks in front of the house and the driver walks towards the house. They appear to look toward the camera. They walk up the stairs and into the house. A black car drives by.
00:02:26 An individual stands on the porch with their hands on their hips, it appears they are looking towards the camera.
00:02:34 Three individuals exit the house, two walk down the steps while one stands in the doorway. The two individuals get into the white car. Four more individuals exit the house, two appear to be children. One of the adults carries a basket, they gesture at the car as it pulls away. The four individuals walk left away from the house, the camera pans left with them and another individual is seen chopping wood behind a fence between 8 and 10 E. Baker Street.
00:03:23 An individual paces on the porch or the house, while another stands in the doorframe. The individual pacing appears to be smoking a cigarette, and looks over both sides of the porch railing, then enters the house.
00:03:43 The individual previously pacing walks down the stairs of the house towards a black taxi cab with a white roof and yellow writing on the door parked in front of the salon. Two individuals with their hair wrapped in handkerchiefs exit the salon, and an individual in a white barber's smock stands in the doorway. The individual from the BPP Information Center waves at the barber as they return to the house and walk inside.
00:03:58 The camera films an individual chopping wood in the backyard between 8 and 10 E. Baker Street.
00:04:23 Footage ends.
Event Description
On November 22, 1970, the Richmond Times-Dispatch reported that a local chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) had been formed some four months prior in Richmond. They began operating an Information Center out of 8 E. Baker Street three weeks before speaking with the RTD under conditions of anonymity. The newspaper noted that the center was known to the police, and that "party members say that the police and the FBI have been taking pictures of them". The chapter had begun collecting clothing and was planning for a free breakfast program, a liberation school, and a drug use diversion program. Community members had given the Information Center a stove, refrigerator, and other items. VCU student and student government president James Elam stated that the group had been "'accepted well in the community they are working in.'" (Richmond Times-Dispatch, November 22, 1970).
Runtime
00:04:48
Note
The original 16mm film reel has damage which translated to the digitized copy presented here. The damage includes debris in the camera gate and a camera registration error, which leads to "jumps" in footage or multiple frames being seen at once..
Corporate Name Subject
Black Panther Party
Topical Subject
Black power; Black power--United States; Black militant organizations; African American student movements; Civil rights movements; Civil rights movements--United States; Police; Police patrol--Surveillance operations; Electronic surveillance; Video surveillance
City/Location
Richmond (Va.)
Genre
color films (visual works)
Local Genre
moving image
Type
Moving Image
Digital Format
video/mp4
Language
eng
Rights Statement URL
Rights
This material is in the public domain in the United States and thus is free of any copyright restriction. Acknowledgement of Virginia Commonwealth University Libraries as a source is requested.
Collection
Richmond Police Department Surveillance Collection
Source
Black Panther Party Information Center in Richmond Film Reel, 1970 November 25
File Name
VCU_M571_145.mp4