For Immediate Release: September 19, 2006

Framing the Struggle :
Photographers to Speak About Their Black Panther Pictures

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(Oakland, CA)—The Oakland History Room, Aperture West, and the It’s About Time Committee present Framing the Struggle: The Black Panther Party in Black and White, an evening with distinguished photographers Stephen Shames, Jeffrey Blankfort, and Ilka Hartmann. Hear the stories behind some of the powerful photographs of Black Panther Party members challenging the nation's racial status quo during the tumultuous 1960s. The event takes place Wednesday, October 11, 2006 from 6 to 8 pm in the West Auditorium of Oakland Main Library, 125 14th Street, in downtown Oakland.

Photographers Stephen Shames, Jeffrey Blankfort, and Ilka Hartmann were there with their cameras when the Black Panther Party emerged from the streets of Oakland 40 years ago. As one of several events commemorating the 40th anniversary of the party’s founding, the library is proud to host these three photographers, who have since established themselves in successful careers in their field. The evening will also be a celebration of the October 2006 release of The Black Panthers, a book of Stephen Shames photographs taken in the East Bay between 1967 and 1972. Published by Aperture, the book includes essays by Charles E. Jones and a forward by Bobby Seale. Shames’s prolific output has produced the largest archive of Panther images in the world. He ranks among the leading documentary photographers of his time.

Jeffrey Blankfort, a photographer for Ramparts magazine during the heyday of the Black Panther Party, will share his extensive experience documenting the 1960s and its aftermath during his long and distinguished career in photojournalism. Besides taking pictures, he hosts political call-in shows on listener-supported radio stations in San Francisco (KPOO-FM) and Mendocino (KZYX-FM).

Ilka Hartmann arrived for graduate school at UC Berkeley as a new immigrant from Germany while student protests on campus were growing into a mass movement and the Black Panther Party was about to emerge from the campus of Merritt College. Her photographs documenting the growing unrest among her peers began appearing in the East Bay's grass-roots and alternative newspapers as she embarked on her distinguished career in photojournalism.

The evening is presented in conjunction with the exhibit Educate to Liberate: A Retrospective of the Black Panther Community News Service, co-curated with the It's About Time Committee, on display now through December 29, 2006 in the Oakland History Room, Main Library, 125-14th Street. For more information, please call (510) 238-3222, or see the Library's Web site: www.oaklandlibrary.org. Please refrain from wearing scented products. To request sign interpretation, or other accommodation, call the number above or (510) 834-7446 (TTY) at least five working days prior to the event. The Oakland Public Library is a department of the City of Oakland.

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