Mar 24, 2022 - Sale 2598

Sale 2598 - Lot 142

Price Realized: $ 1,375
?Final Price Realized includes Buyer’s Premium added to Hammer Price
Estimate: $ 1,000 - $ 1,500
(BLACK PANTHERS.) Free the Soledad Brothers. Poster, 22 1/2 x 17 1/2 inches; minimal wear, small smudge in top margin. Berkeley, CA: Soledad Brothers Defense Committee, [1970-71]

Additional Details

On 13 January 1970, three Black inmates at Soledad Prison were shot by a prison guard for engaging in a fist-fight. The ensuing investigation exonerated the guard; within an hour, another white prison guard was killed in retaliation. Prisoners George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo and John Clutchette were charged with the murder. Their defense quickly became a popular cause in activist circles; this poster featured a quote from Ho Chi Minh's prison diary. Jackson was killed in a breakout attempt on 21 August 1971, shortly before his trial; he left his modest estate to the Black Panther Party. Drumgo and Clutchette were acquitted the following year.