"Make Mine Strawberry": an ice cream vendor sets up shop outside Philadelphia’s Temple University gymnasium where the Black Panther-sponsored convention has been under way for two days. An estimated 6,000 people attended the opening session, and hundreds took part in workshop discussions. A relaxed carnival atmosphere surrounded the meeting center on Philadelphia’s Broad Street.

The Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention (RPCC) was a conference organized by the Black Panther Party (BPP) and held in Philadelphia from September 4–7, 1970. The goal of the Convention was to draft a new version of the United States Constitution and to unify factions of the radical left in the United States. The RPCC represented one of the largest gatherings of radical activists across movements and issues in the United States. The Convention was attended by a variety of organizations from the Black Power Movement, Asian American Movement, Chicano Movement, American Indian Movement, Anti-war Movement, Women's Liberation, and Gay Liberation Movements. Estimates of attendance range from 6,000 to 15,000. Attendees convened in workshops to draft declarations of demands related to various issues; those declarations were ultimately intended to be incorporated into a new constitution that would function as the final vision of those movements. The RPCC also signified a shift in BPP focus from black self-defense to a broader revolutionary agenda. While conflicts did arise during the Philadelphia Convention, the Conference was ultimately deemed a success by the Panthers. After the Philadelphia Convention, attempts were made to reconvene to finalize and ratify the new constitution in Washington DC a few months later. These attempts ultimately failed due to police interference and Panther disorganization.

Associated Press ID #7009060174

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: manuscript title, date stamp and library stamp.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Black Panthers
• Civil Rights Movements
• Gymnasiums
• Ice Cream
• Injustice
• Philadelphia
• Racial Discrimination
• Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention
• Temple University
• Vendors and Shopkeepers

• Image Dimensions: 7 1/8 x 9 13/16 in. (18.1 x 24.92 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen
• Sheet Dimensions: 7 5/16 x 9 7/8 in. (18.57 x 25.08 cm) Measured by Hudson, Karen