Elaine Brown

Elaine Brown

I love Elaine Brown, and have loved Elaine Brown ever since my most wonderful and dear, half-black, half-vietnamese Black panther radical friend, Wanda let me borrow a copy of her book, A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. Elaine exudes a raw strength and integrity, and displays a certain kittenish sexuality that I liken to that of Gloria Steinem's. Born in Philadelphia, Elaine attended the prestigious Thaddeus Stevens School of Practice and Philadelphia High School for Girls, and then briefly attended Temple University majoring in journalism before making her way out to the west coast where she got her start working as a PlayBoy Bunny in one of the PlayBoy lounges.There she became the mistress of well-known writer,ex-FBI agent, and Kennedy cousin, Jay Kennedy--whom she credits with her education and budding political awareness as a woman of color.

In L.A., Brown became involved with the well-respected leftist newspaper and publication, Harambee. It is through her work with this paper that she became acquainted with and intimately involved with Huey P. Newton, one of the founders and the chairperson of the Black Panther Party. Elaine became a member of the Black Panther Party and quickly found herself in several key positions--inlcuding Chief Editor of the Black Panther Party newspaper, " The Black Panther-" which was the second best selling newspaper in the country during its heydey.

In 1974, after Huey P. Newston fled to Cuba, Elaine Brown became the chairperson of the Black Panther Party. In her book, she gives light to the affect that the Black Panther party had on state, national, and international levels-as it had chapters in at least thirty countries around the globe. She points to the social welfare programs started by the Party which were coopted by the federal government (such as the Free Lunch, Free Breakfast, and Headstart programs), all of the free clinics started and funded by the party-- and the fact that she--at the helm of the Black Panther Party--played a very big role in getting Jerry Brown elected governor of California and Lionel Wilson as mayor of Oakland, California. Elaine Brown left the Black Panther Party in 1977, relocating to France.

Elaine Brown is a beautiful, multi-talented spirit. Along with all of these activities, Brown is also a composer who composed several songs affiliated with the Black Power Movement. She is now a Phd, affliated with Morehouse College in Atlanta.