Stephen Shames was twenty years old when, as a student at Berkeley, he came into contact with the beginnings of what would later become the Black Panther Party. From that moment onwards, he followed the history of this movement for Black American emancipation until its dissolution. Benefitting from the friendship of key leaders, in particular Bobby Seale and Huey Newton, the photographer could report freely on all the forms of a political organization.

A relatively unknown aspect of the Black Panther Party, which these photographs bring to light, is the place occupied by activists within the organization: providing food aid, education assistance, healthcare, and security. Women, some of whom would go on to achieve certain notoriety (Gloria Abernathy, Evon Carter, Kathleen Cleaver, Angela Davis, Ericka Huggins, Adrienne Humphrey), were on the front line of every struggle, giving this story an original color and a distinctive resonance. This exhibition, as Angela Davis emphasizes, "reminds us that women were literally at the heart of this new political approach to Black freedom".


Admission included with the Rencontres d’Arles 2024 pass.