Seale In Prison: Black Panther Bobby Seale, who is being held without bail for possible extradition in connection with a Connecticut murder warrant, discusses a first-degree murder indictment that was returned against him Wednesday. A grand jury returned the formal charge in connection with the May 21 shooting death of Alex Rackley, 24, of New York. Rackley was killed in Middlefield, Connecticut. Seale denied he ordered Rackley's death, San Francisco.

Bobby Seale (1936-present) is an American political activist. He and fellow activist Huey P. Newton co-founded the Black Panther Party to organize the black community and express their desires and needs in order to resist the racism and classism perpetuated by the system. Seale and Newton together wrote the doctrines "What We Want Now!" which Seale said were intended to be "the practical, specific things we need and that should exist" and "What We Believe," which outlines the philosophical principles of the Black Panther Party in order to educate the people and disseminate information about the specifics of the Party's platform. These writings were part of the Party's Ten-Point Program, a set of guidelines to the Black Panther Party's ideals and ways of operation.

New Haven Black Panther trials: in 1970 there was a series of criminal prosecutions in New Haven, Connecticut against various members of the Black Panther Party. The charges ranged from criminal conspiracy to felony murder. All indictments stemmed from the murder of 19-year-old Alex Rackley in the early hours of May 21, 1969. In all, nine defendants were indicted on charges related to the case, including National Party Chairman Bobby Seale. In the heated political rhetoric of the day, these defendants were referred to as the "New Haven Nine", a deliberate allusion to other cause-celebré defendants like the "Chicago Seven". The trials became a rallying-point for the American Left, and marked a decline in public support, even among the black community, for the Black Panther Party.

Associated Press ID #690828062.

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: manuscript title and date.

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:

• Alex Rackley
• Bobby Seale
• Civil Rights Movements
• Connecticut
• Extradition
• Grand juries
• Indictments
• Injustice
• Male Portraits
• Murder
• Racial Discrimination
• San Francisco
• Warrants

• Image Dimensions: 9 7/16 x 6 11/16 in. (23.97 x 16.99 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin
• Sheet Dimensions: 9 11/16 x 7 1/8 in. (24.61 x 18.1 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin