Chaka Khan was a member of the Black Panther Party and worked for the free breakfast programme

Chaka Khan was a member of the black panther party. She joined the Chicago chapter of the party in 1969, and worked for the free breakfast programme. During this time she took the name Chaka Adunne Aduffe Yemoja Hodarhi Karifi, and dropped out of high school.

In 1969, a group of children sat down to a free breakfast before school. On the menu. Chocolate, milk, eggs, meat, cereal and fresh oranges. This breakfast was served by the black panther party.

At the time, the militant black nationalist party was vilified in the news media and feared by these intimidated by its message of black power and its commitment to ending police brutality and the subjugation of black Americans.

From 1969 through to the early 1970s, the black panthers free breakfast for school children programme which was created by the black panther party, it helped contribute to the existence of federal free breakfast programmes today. When the black panther party founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the party in 1966, their goal was to end police brutality in Oakland.

Free breakfast for school children was one of the most effective programmes. It began in January 1969 at an episcopal church in Oakland, and within weeks it went from feeding a handful of kids to hundreds. The programme was simple party members and volunteers went to a local grocery stores to solicit donations. Consulted with nutritionists on Healthy breakfast options for children, and prepared and served the food free of charge.

School officials immediately reported results in kids who had free breakfast before school “ the school principal came down and told us how different the children were”, Ruth Beckford. a parishioner who helped with programme, said later, “they weren’t falling asleep in class, they weren’t crying with stomach cramps.”

Black panther party social programmes they cover everything from free medical clinics to community ambulance services and legal clinics.

Free food seemed relatively innocuous, but not to FBI head J.Edgar Hoover, who loathed the black panther party and declared war against them in 1969. He called the programme “ potentially the greatest threat to efforts by authorities to neutralise the black panther party and destroy what it stands for,” and gave carte Blanche to law enforcement to destroy it.

source history.com