Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton

Author Bio: Bobby Seale

Bobby Seale is a revolutionary, political activist, author, and the only living founder of the Black Panther Party. Born October 22, 1936, Seale helped build one of the most influential political and community organizations of the twentieth century, advancing a platform centered on self-determination, political education, community empowerment, and protection from police brutality.

As chairman of the Black Panther Party, Seale helped guide the organization from its beginnings in Oakland into a national movement known not only for political resistance but also for community programs addressing hunger, health care, education, and social inequality. He is the author of Seize the Time, his landmark first-person account of the Party’s rise, along with A Lonely Rage, Barbeque’n with Bobby, and Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers.

Now ninety years old, Seale remains deeply connected to Oakland, where he lives with his wife, Leslie, and daughter, J’aime Bobbie Seale. As the Black Panther Party celebrates its sixtieth anniversary, his life today is centered not only on preserving the history he helped create, but on ensuring that its lessons, values, and legacy remain accessible to the generations that follow. Through the Bobby Seale Legacy Foundation, he continues that work in partnership with the Huey P. Newton Foundation and the Black Panther Party Museum.

Seale is also completing I, Bobby, his forthcoming memoir, a personal reflection on his life and the rise and fall of the Black Panther Party, written to preserve the truth of what was built, what was lost, and what he hopes the next generation will carry forward.