Roz Payne has more black historical documents stuffed under her bed than most of us will probably ever lay hands on, much less own. As a founding member of the Newsreel organization, Roz began photographing, audio taping, filming and documenting the Black Panther Party (BPP) in the late 60's and essentially never stopped. The result is 40 some odd years of images and documents that Roz is currently compiling on a 4-disk DVD set soon to be published by AK Press.
"I'm a collector," Roz told us off-handedly. This is what we call an understatement, boys and girls. Her personal collection contains 350,000 unabridged, unedited FBI civil suit documents, 12 hours of film footage, plus untold numbers of still photos, audio recordings, leaflets, posters, and books. The DVD set will contain a large portion of this material as video files, audio files, and PDFs. Much of the material was sorted, processed, and coded by students at the University of Vermont, near Roz's home.
Along with familiar protest images, Roz's Newsreel footage also includes less familiar material, such as interviews with original Newsreel members, an interview with the widow of Fred Hampton, and an interview with Special Agent WAC who first opened the FBI's case file on the BPP. Roz stresses that her personal archives are by no means comprehensive of the entire BPP story, and that the material on the DVDs represents only those items that she personally happened to collect and keep.
Roz and her publisher are currently working out technical glitches, but she hopes to have at least part of the set complete for the Panthers' 40th reunion in Oakland on October 13, 14, and 15.
Complete chapter listing of Roz Payne's Newsreel archive DVD
1) Off The Pigs [13:00]
2) Mayday [13:00]
3) Repression [13:00]
Newsreel Interviews
Newreel members talking about making the films, working with the panthers and Newsreel
5) The Falk Family [NY and Boston Newsreel)
6) Cindy Fitzpatrick [LA newsreel distributer]
7) Dozie and Gay [SF and NY Newsreel]
8) Gail Dolgin [NY and SF Newsreel]
9) Marilyn Buck [SF newsreel filmed in prison]
10) Roz Payne (with John and Jane) [ Founding members NY Newsreel and Vermont NR distribution]
Excerpts from the Wheelock Academic conference on the Black Panthers
12) Young Lords [Audio Only]
13) Huey and Gay Liberation [Audio Only]
14) Ahmed Rahman [Audio Only]
15) Wheelock Conversation: an extended conversation between Academics, Panthers, and Academic Panthers about a multitude of issues including violence and self-defense, specific local chapters, and historiography
16) Roz's paper on Agent WAC, case agent who opened the original files on the BPP, and ensuing conversation
Excerpts from the BPP 35th Reunion
13) Reunion intro
14) Althea
15) Jericho Prison Movement
16) Jericho Table
17) Kathleen on East-West split and Cointelpro
18) Louisiana Woman 2: New Orleans shoot-out at Panther HQ
19) Orange shirt: effect of split on lower echelon and panther inprisonment
20) Bigman [Audio Only]
21) Bob Boyle: cointelpro [Audio Only]
22) Bob Boyle 2: cointelpro
23) Akua Njeri: widow of Fred Hampton describes assassination
24) Gail Shaw: Panther Clinic and support work
25) Louisiana Woman [Audio Only]
26) Philly Chapter [Audio Only]
27) Reparations [Audio Only]
28) Safiya Bukhari: Prisoners [Audio Only]
29) Bobby Seale [short shot then Audio Only]
30) Kathleen Cleaver Dinner: the Panthers 35 Years reunion
Movement Lawyers tell stories about BPP legal cases
31) Liz Fink, includes discussion of Martin Sostre, Attica, and winning Dhoruba bin Wahad's freedom
32) Bob Boyle: Dhoruba and Panther prisoners
33) Bob Bloom: Panther 21 and Geronimo
34) Jessie Berman: BLA and other legal cases
35) Beverly Axelrod: Movement Lawyer: Got Cleaver out of jail, Panthers, Soul on Ice and AIM
36) Jerry Lefcourt Panther 21
The FBI Special Agents
37) FBI agent Westley A. Swearingin: testified in court to get release of 350,000 FBI documents on Panthers in the case of Dhoruba bin Wahad. One of the only interviews he has given.
38) Special FBI Agent WAC: Original Case Agent on the BPP, opened case on the BPP, wrote THE semi-monthly reports with special sections including racist and sexist gossip. This is the only interview with FBI agent DC and Marty Kenner.
39) Donald Cox: Original Field Marshall, in charge of military training, now in exile in france, wanted on charges in the US.
40) A cup of Coffee with Marty Kenner: Huey confidante and chief Panther fundraiser
Additional Scanned Material:
Roz's Photos
Other photographs (including Steven Shames and David Fenton)
FBI Cartoons (Cointelpro defamation of Panthers)
Best of FBI Docs
WAC's Report to church committee
BPP Newspaper excerpts
Movement papers (leaflets, posters, small press, other propaganda excerpts)
Comments
This collection is extraordinary! I am in awe of community-based media archivists such as Payne (Pearl Bowser is another noteworthy example) who manage to collect, organize and store vast quantities of historical materials and documentation without any institutional support and/or resources (like space!). I appreciate her efforts and look forward to seeing and hearing the DVD set. Thanks for sharing this with us.