her book, body and soul. >> author of body and soul, why was the black panther party founded originally? >> it was a founded a bridge lead because of their dissatisfaction with race relations and economic justice issues in the united states in 1866. so what was interesting about the black at the party was that it happened right after some of the greatest successes of the civil rights movement. ..

>> the black panther story is a migration story. they come from texas and louisiana to the area to oakland and they find themselves your book focuses on medical care. you write that the black panther party, the answer is were part of an uncharted tradition of

african-american health policies. >> guest: it means that we haven't looked closely enough at the fact that the civil rights tradition, if we just think about the 20th century, because it was always a medical activism tradition. i think that we understand the forms of discrimination, jim crow and racial segregation, we understand this as being part of the early 20th century african-american rights, which also included health care great if we go back across the 20th century to the organizations and the initiatives that we think of being important to the civil rights tradition, health care is always there. one way of thinking about the black panther party is thinking about people that were part of the student nonviolent coordinating committee, that also had a medical on that tended to both activists her during the movement and local communities as well. we need to understand the black

panthers did something strategic and internal what they were doing in the late 1960s and early 1970s. and black activism responding to discrimination. >> host: what transpired with the black panther party and medical care? >> guest: lots of interesting things. by the late 1960s, a national network of health clinics. it was mandated by the party by 1970 that every chapter of the party, if you are going to be a black panther chapter, by 1916 in 1969, they were springing up all over. they had captured the attention of a whole generation of young people. by that time come if you're going to start a chapter, you had to have a health code clinic grid within these clinics, they often did basic preventative care. it was often referrals to care for people who had more serious issues. and they also did, i think,

things like genetic screening. they did genetic counseling and screening for sickle cell anemia. before it was a national issue, well before we were talking about the ncaa as we are today. they were also involved as early as attends as possible in biology. the early 70s, addressing black bodies of violence and other types of behavior behavior problems. >> host: ported to get the funding? >> guest: they were sort of strategic and waited they got the funding. in winston, winston-salem, north carolina, they got the donations committee solicited donations from medical supply companies. for example, there were donations from some of the doctors that i interviewed who worked with the black panther party. they would get donations from the hospitals or medical centers

where they were residents and the like. they just really pulled it together. these were very much a shoestring operations that were very dependent upon collaborations. also, young health radicals, nurses, technicians and health profession that share the black panther party's perspective. any desire for social change. >> host: who are some of the doctors i work on these health clinics? >> guest: one interesting position with terry cooper, he is a psychiatrist. he helped to establish what was called the free peoples medical clinic in los angeles, south central los angeles that was located on central avenue. it was founded in 1969. december 1969 he was at the time, i think he was a resident in psychiatry resident at ucla. he would help the panthers to start that clinic and he would actually go on to be involved with other panther activities over the course of his career.

he never joined the party. he was a personal physician and a personal physician to angeles davis. he also saw george jackson. this is a time when he was at oakland and interned an oakland hospital. he help the parties strategize and get their sickle cell anemia program organized. the southwest from he helped the party, he would go around to chapters and educating the members of the party about sickle cell anemia. >> host: professor nelson, why are you writing about this now? is a because of the health care debate we just had in this country. >> guest: i think the book is in conversation with the health care debate, and i draw these connections with the debate. what is interesting is after the black party pants -- panther

party, with regard to the affordable care act. should everyone have a baseline level of health care. these were precisely the issues that the panthers were talking about 45 years ago. and they seem far more radical, i think, honestly we have seen radical mess right now, but it's interesting that these have shifted into discourse in a particular sort of way. i think also, i'm writing about this now because i was initially interested in writing about hiv and aids epidemic and black communities. the struggles that the black community face in combating the epidemic, and early 1980s when it emerged, given the sort of history and trajectory and civil rights struggle and the successes of the civil rights movement. part of what that history tells us is that black communities have been very effective in organizing and mobilizing around very sorts of issues.

particularly in the late 20th century. i wonder, where did all of that energy of those institutions and networks go when met by the time we got back to the 1980s, that's where i began. like many historical or sociological products coming you find yourself going back 10 years or so ago just to see what happened before. i ended up with a black panther party interest. >> host: to these clinics still exist? >> guest: some of my research was done at the university of washington in the special collections. there was a very successful black panther party chapter for several years. part of my historical research was also interviews. i also want from the neighborhoods and sort of try to get a sense of where the clinic headquarters and where was located, these would be the headquarters and the sorts of things. he was 40 years after, but what

it was to get a sense of what it felt like. in the course of walking around in seattle, i discovered the carolyn downs medical center. which is now an ngo. it is a nonprofit medical center in seattle. it is named for a former member of the black panther party. one of the questions i get asked about this book is why did we not know anything about the black panthers health activism. when the curious things in the seattle case is that you have a clinic that is named for the former black panther. there is a plaque that says this clinic is working in the tradition of the black panther party. very much valorize his and recognizes the contributions of the black panther party and the fight against medical discrimination and the struggle to expand health care access. that clinic still exists today. it is a thriving clinic that serves all sorts of eople.

the city of seattle as well. another legacy, a more sweet legacy is the formation of the common ground health collective, which is an ngo in the state of louisiana. in 2005 after hurricane katrina in august, 2005, as you will recall, there was the health care infrastructure that collapsed in new orleans. many people were left sadly in charity hospitals to die. a lot of the doctors and nurses were allowed to leave the city in a catastrophic situation. you have the total infrastructure and health care collapsing, most particularly. within a few days of hurricane katrina watching through new orleans, three activists start the common ground collective and they start providing very basic preliminary health care services for the people that remain in the city. one of these three people is a gentleman named maleek rahim.

when you start about starting this with two other activists, he says very clearly that the reason he felt like he could do this and pull this off in the face of all of this catastrophe all around them, is that they have done very similar work in the black panther party. so we have to understand, you know, these two clinics operating today as distinct legacies of the black panther party's activism. >> host: alondra nelson is very distressed in the african-american community toward health care? and hatred okay to just say health care, but i'm thinking specifically the tuskegee syphilis experiments. >> guest: yes, i think it is an important question. this is the 40th anniversary this july for tuskegee. we see this trust in the public health to deter and we see these accounts in these sort of

things. it goes back well across the 20th century. the black panther party was partly responding to that, these issues of distrust. they wanted in their clinics to have doctors who are approachable, who are accountable to their patients. who would agree to communicate in certain ways with their patients. to treat them with respect and appropriate care. part of what the black panther party was doing was dealing with the issue of distrust by changing the dynamics of the patients and doctors. we are changing the interaction. as opposed to feeling subjugated by the encounter. one of the interesting things about the black panther party with regard to the tuskegee is that their health care work begins before tuskegee is rebuilt. "the new york times" in july of 1972. making about this anniversary, one of the things that we might want to think about what black panther party is they set the stage and set the terms of the debate around issues of health

and race and mistrust among to be done with them. it was that conversation that the tuskegee revelation sort of entry. the black panther party had three or four years before tuskegee was revealed, they had are even talking publicly about health care issues and issues of race, health, and mistrust. >> host: you attended the 45th anniversary of the black panther party. what was that like? >> guest: i did. anniversaries are interesting. people come from all over the country, different facets of the party, 15 or 20 years ago who had not been speaking to each other because they had different ideas of of what the party should've been. they come from all over the country and sometimes the world, they tell their stories. they tell what is useful. the book is called chapter history, so people of the remaining members, they would create a collective account. you know, memory is very much a

historical work. what was interesting about the chapter history is that one person would say, i remember this, and that person would fill it and are corrected. these sorts of things. you know, there are also lots of young people. scholars like myself. there were young people who are interested and activist. those interested in the legacy of the party. it is a very eclectic, dynamic, interesting setting. >> host: huey newton and bobby seale were there? >> julie newton is deceased. he was killed in the late 1980s. bobby seale is living today. he's still active about the black panther party work today. >> host: wanted the party to stand? >> there are several reasons. one was the fbi's counterintelligence program which was successful in doing a few things. it created some of the discord that exists now in the party