Seale, Bobby (1936- ), a founder and leader of the Black Panther Party (BPP). Robert George Seale was born in Dallas, Texas. His family moved to California in the 1940s, seeking better employment opportunities. Seale, who grew up in Oakland, failed to graduate with his class in high school. He enlisted in the United States Air Force, but, after encountering prejudiced officers, he was discharged for refusal to accept military discipline. He returned to California and enrolled in Merritt College in Oakland.

In reaction to the racism they experienced, Seale and friend Huey Newton founded the Black Panther Party in 1966. They wanted to improve conditions in black communities and protect blacks from police brutality. They wrote a ten-point platform that outlined their goals: end of police brutality, full employment, improved housing and education, and the exemption of blacks from military service. The Black Panthers called for armed retaliation in response to acts of violence against blacks, a tactic that separated them from many activists in the civil rights movement who had practiced nonviolence.

Seale became chairman of the BPP, acting as a national spokesperson and organizing many community-based activities. In 1967 he led a group of armed Black Panthers to Sacramento, the capital of California, to protest a gun-control bill being considered by the California state legislature. After Seale read a party statement, the police arrested him and 30 others. The media coverage of the protest attracted attention, and the organization grew.

In 1968 Seale and seven others were arrested and charged with inciting a riot at the Democratic National Convention in Chicago (seeChicago Convention of 1968). When he protested during the trial, Seale was gagged and shackled in the courtroom. He was eventually given an individual trial, and the charges were later dropped. In 1970 Connecticut officials unsuccessfully attempted to convict him and other Panther members on murder charges when a Panther who was suspected of being a police informant was killed.

After the Connecticut trial ended, Seale sought to rebuild the Black Panther Party, which was disintegrating. In 1973 he decided to work within the system and ran for mayor of Oakland, receiving over 40 percent of the vote. His relationship with Newton began to deteriorate, and Seale left the BPP in 1974.

Seale later founded an organization called R.E.A.C.H., which combined social activism and environmentalism, and taught young people about community organizing. In addition to directing its activities, he has written three books: two memoirs about his political experiences, Seize the Time (1970) and A Lonely Rage (1978); and one cookbook, Barbeque’n with Bobby Seale (1988).