Serving Oakland kids love & liberation at breakfast
Uplifting the legacy of Oakland’s Black Panther Party Free Breakfast Program
BY UGO IKORO
Black Food, Love & Liberation is an ongoing series curated by our Digital Culture Fellow, Ugoada Ikoro. Each week, Ugo captures stories of joy, beauty, community care, and thriving (beyond surviving) hidden beneath mainstream narratives shaping Black foodways and our relationships to the land. This month’s theme? Unearthing Liberatory Black Foodways in Oakland, CA.
Archival photo of two women of color serving breakfast in a kitchen. Courtesy of The Vanguard: A Photographic Essay on the Black Panthers, 1970
“The giver of food is the giver of life.”
-Excerpted from The Shiva Purana, 1950 English translation edited by J. L. Shastri, Section 5 - Umā-Saṃhitā, Chapter 11 - The glory of the gift of food.
The year is June 8th,1969… As the children of Durant Elementary School approach the gates of St. Augustine Episcopal Church, they are met with the enticing smells of crispy fried bacon, grits, hot cakes, sweet honey, and scrambled eggs permeating the windows and halls.
Every day for the past six months, 120 kids on average have come in for a free breakfast prepared by their community. When they’re done, they depart for the school day with bellies full, ready to take on their final week before they set their sights on summer break.
Archival photo of 2 school-aged Black children seated at a communal breakfast table wearing school uniforms. Courtesy of Black Panther Community News Service, Vol III No. 1, April 27, 1969
“It is our young Black children that will nurture the seeds of the new world we are planting, it is they who will fertilize the ground we plow.”
-Mount Vernon Black Panther Party, 1970
Food is the basis of our lives. So, what ingredients are essential to feeling nourished and cared for in your communities? What radical possibilities exist when we honor food as the living, breathing being we are in eternal communion with?
For Ruth Beckford—a beloved and nationally-acclaimed dancer and leader in the Oakland community and Black Panther Party (BPP)— crafting community foodsheds meant ensuring that kids didn’t go hungry in the morning. It meant reclaiming our power to secure our survival into the future.
In January 1969, the Free Breakfast Program set out to feed Black school kids nationwide. Beginning in Oakland, CA, Father Neil, the pastor and spiritual advisor to BPP, Bobby Seale, BPP’s Co-Founder, and Ruth Beckford, envisioned a liberatory future for the younger generation by tackling the systemic issue of food injustice plaguing their streets and prematurely cutting the lives of their people short.
Archival photo of Black woman serving breakfast in a kitchen in the food hall. Courtesy of Black Panther Community News Service, Vol III No. 1, April 27, 1969
Archival photo of Black woman serving breakfast to a child in the food hall. Courtesy of Black Panther Community News Service, Vol III No. 1, April 27, 1969
Archival photo of newspaper clipping that reads, "The Role of the Revolutionary Woman."
“It is a ritual embodied in every meal, reflecting the recognition that giving is the condition of our very being.”
—Vandana Shiva in “Gift of Food”
Ruth and the women of BPP dedicated themselves to serving hot, fresh meals to kids every morning starting at 6 a.m. They worked tirelessly to recruit volunteers among women and youth, collect donations from local grocery stores and small businesses, and create daily menus containing essential nutrients for children's well-being.
Driven by a deep sense of devotion and care for their community, they prepared and served food not only as a living expression of love but also as a tool to resist Black erasure. That love and liberation was conceived in every meal they served—sweet (or buttery!), righteous, velvety grit(ty) love.
Photo of Ugo Ikoro with text that reads, “Ugo Ikoro, Digital Culture Fellow”
About the author
Ugo is a storyteller, food & public health justice advocate, and land steward. During the 6-month Digital Culture Fellowship, she'll be exploring her foodways and how systems of oppression have shaped the ways Black people engage with food culture in the US and across the Diaspora.
Through tending to the land, discovering the practices of her ancestral lineage, and finding inspiration in the stories and legacies of Black land predecessors and successors, Ugo is bridging gaps in how we tell stories about our connections to the Earth and each other.
Digging Deeper
In imagining radical possibilities for community foodsheds—what does feeding and nourishing your community look like to you? And, how can we cultivate a more intimate connection to our food?
Want to read up more on Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program? Check out the following sources that inspired this piece:
Little Known Program Shows Group Impact by Cecily Burt, East Bay Times
Feeding the Revolution: the Black Panther Party, Hunger, and Community Survival by Mary Potorti
Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era by Ashley D Farmer
The Black Panther Party: Service to the People Programs edited by David Hilliard
Breakfast of Unsung Heroes: Black Women’s Forgotten Crusade for Survival in the Free Breakfast for Children by Meredith Wade
Who is Ruth Beckford, the trailblazing woman behind the Free Breakfast Program? Celebrate her legacy and commitment to spreading joy across Oakland by checking out her oral history interview (Part 7 of 11 from 3:45 min on her involvement with BPP), where she discusses the story of the program and her role as a community activist, leader, and “the Dance Lady” (Fun Fact: She taught dance to a lot of the women of the BPP!)
“There has been and always will be Black Panthers.” The legacy of the Black Panther Party is still fighting on today! Consider supporting the ongoing revolution happening here in Oakland:
Blessed to have the women who spearhead the Women of the BPP (WOMP) over at 9th & Center St in West Oakland. Pop over to their stand-in exhibit, check out their community events, and show some love!
The People’s Program is doing incredible work in honoring the legacy of BPP’s Survival Programs. If you’re in the Bay, support them by volunteering at their Grocery Program, People’s Garden, Health Clinic, and Donation Sorting
You can find other volunteer opportunities and info on Black-led food and farm resources here!🌱
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