Cover

Notes

saddle stitched soft cover
Readymade, Reprint

Quotes

"Co-opted in 1968 as part of the FBI's Counter Intelligence Program, the Black Panther Coloring Book was used to discredit the Black Panthers in the eyes of the white population. This new edition, created by artists Corey Presha and Bill Sullivan, brings the drawings into a new context influenced by the last 50 years of history. With the text removed, a series of drawings once deemed "too offensive" by the Panthers are now almost sympathetic when viewed through the lens of the struggle of Black people, the oppressed finally getting over on the oppressor. Published by The Sun.Solar Books, 2016." (These Days LA)

"The Black Panther Coloring Book was released in 1968 and follows the journey of black (or white, depending on how you colour them) people from Africa to America, where they apparently all procured huge knives and started killing police. It makes the Black Panthers look like crazy, irrational lunatics and this was the point, because it was actually produced by the FBI and sent to white families across the country. It represented an effort to discredit the Panthers as any sort of valid political movement and reinforce the opinion that Huey P. Newton and his organisation were psychotic militants who killed white people and police indiscriminately. Rereleased in a special edition by New York's brilliant S_U_N_ Editions, the book's resurfacing is poignant in a time in which the US attempts to reexamine the realities of racial violence and discrimination towards black and other minorities." (Perimeter)

"[…] One prurient document that surfaced in the late 1960s was The Black Panther Coloring Book. Opinions differ as to its origins. One story goes that the FBI, concerned about the popularity of the Party’s Free Breakfast Programme for schools, designed the book and distributed it to shops and community organisations sympathetic to the Panthers. Another, more complex theory alleges that the book was created by an eager new party recruit, but was subsequently denounced as racist and too violent by the BPP before copies fell into COINTELPRO’s hands.

The crude drawings depicting gun-toting children and wild pigs in police uniform would seem laughably crass if it weren’t for the needless loss of life incurred by both sides throughout the BPP’s troubled existence. This new edition, created by artists Corey Presha and Bill Sullivan, brings the drawings into a new context influenced by the last 50 years of history. With the text removed, a series of drawings once deemed “too offensive” by the Panthers are now almost sympathetic when viewed through the lens of the struggle of Black people, the oppressed finally getting over on the oppressor."
Dimitris Lempesis (dreamideamachine.com)

"Black Panther Coloring Book is a facsimile of a book created by the FBI in 1968 as cointelpro and was distributed to white households across America in an attempt to discredit the Black Panther movement and create a further divide in race relations in America." (mottodistribution.com)

Artists’ Book

Black Panther Coloring Book

by Corey Presha, Bill Sullivan

Publisher
Release Place New York, NY, United States of America
Release Date 2016
Credits
Work  
Topics 1960S, African Americans, Black Panthers, Cointelpro, Counterintelligence Program, Fbi, Racism, USA, Violence
Dimensions 28.0 × 21.5 cm
Pages 46