Barbara Easley-Cox

Last updated
Barbara Easley-Cox
Born
Barbara Easley
EducationSan Francisco State University
Occupation Civil Rights Activist
Known forParticipation in the Black Panther Party
SpouseDonald L. Cox

Barbara Easley-Cox is a civil rights activist, best known for her involvement with the Black Panther Party. At the time of her first involvement, she was attending San Francisco State University. [1] She now works in Philadelphia with a focus on literacy and education for youth. [2]

Contents

Work in the Black Panther Party

Barbara Easley-Cox became involved with the Black Panther Party in 1967 during her college years. Throughout her experience with the Party, she worked in the Oakland, California, Philadelphia, New York, and international chapters. [3] She participated in the Free Breakfast for Children Program, collected apparel for the Free Clothing Program, and aided in other survival programs hosted by the Party. [3] [4] Easley-Cox traveled around the world, spreading chapters and involvement of the Black Panther Party to Algeria [5] and Germany. In 1970, following Donald Cox fleeing to Algiers after being charged in connection with a murder case in Baltimore, Barbara joined him there for a time, where she partook in the work of the newly formed "International section" of the Black Panther Party. [6] Later, she moved to Germany, where she worked with soldiers of color until 1973. [7] In the 1970s she would move to Philadelphia and settle there. She became involved in Philadelphia's oldest anti-poverty organisation, the Advocate Community Development Corporation. By the 1980s she had been elected to its board and by the 1990s she was chairing the organisation. [8]

Family

Barbara Easley-Cox married her husband, Donald L. Cox in 1970 while working in Algiers. While in Algiers, Easley-Cox was invited to the Democratic People's Republic of Korea, where she gave birth alongside fellow woman of the Black Panther Party, Kathleen Cleaver. [9]

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References

  1. "Barbara Easley". National Archives. December 15, 2016. Archived from the original on June 14, 2018. Retrieved April 10, 2018.
  2. Worthington, Leah. Black panther women: Armed with politics and guns in the Winston-Salem, Philadelphia, and Baltimore Branches (Thesis). ProQuest   1787816583.
  3. 1 2 Turner, Diane (2013). Women Activists in Philadelphia: From Civil Rights to Black Power (PDF). TEMPLE: University Libraries.
  4. Yvonne King, "BARBARA COX EASLEY - SERVANT OF THE PEOPLE - IS HONORED", n.d., at http://www.itsabouttimebpp.com/Chapter_History/pdf/Philadelphia/BC_Servant_of_the_People.pdf, accessed February 2018
  5. Marable, Manning; Agard-Jones, Vanessa (2008). Transnational Blackness: Navigating the Global Color Line. New York, NY: Palgrave Macmillan. p. 183. ISBN   9780230602687.
  6. Li, Ang (25 February 2016). "Panther Women Look Back". NY City Lens. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
  7. Yvonne King, "PHILADELPHIA PANTHERS REFLECT ON THE BPP", n.d., at http://168.144.128.209/Chapter_History/pdf/Philadelphia/Philadelphia_Panthers_Reflect_BPP.pdf Archived 2018-04-10 at the Wayback Machine
  8. Fergus, Devin (2009). Liberalism, Black Power, and the Making of American Politics, 1965-1980. University of Georgia Press. ISBN   9-780-8203-3324-3.
  9. Wu, Judy Tzu-Chun (2013). "Internationalism, Orientalism, and Feminism during the Vietnam Era" . Radicals on the Road. Cornell University Press. ISBN   9780801446757. JSTOR   10.7591/j.ctt1xx5mm.