Newly released FBI files confirm what activists have suspected for years — that FBI involvement in the 1969 murder of Panthers Mark Clark and Fred Hampton reached the highest levels of the Bureau.

Two new films bring attention to the power and potential of the Panthers — and therefore the threat they posed to elites.

Last week, PBS’s Independent Lens released The First Rainbow Coalition, about the burgeoning alliance in late 1960s Chicago between the Black Panthers, the Young Lords, and the Young Patriots to struggle against state violence, economic injustice, and racism. And a feature film on Fred Hampton, Judas and the Black Messiah, will be released on Feb. 12.

The Zinn Education Project has multiple lessons to help educators and students appreciate the still-relevant aspirations of the Black Panther Party — racial and economic justice — and the violent and illegal lengths the U.S. government took to silence them. We list three lessons below.

A mixer role play introduces students to the history of the Black Panther Party.

The main support to sustain and grow the Zinn Education Project comes from individual donors like you. Read our Donor Testimonials and see What Teachers Are Saying to explore how our work affects students across the United States.