“Committee to Defend the Panthers”

"By the late 1960s, the struggle for Civil Rights had intensified. The movement’s leader, Martin Luther King, Jr., was assassinated in 1968, and divergent political groups emerged, including those advocating 'Black Power.' Faith Ringgold designed several political posters specifically for the Black Panther Party in New York. The increasingly radical direction of several political groups, the rise of a youth 'counterculture,' and widespread protest over U.S. military involvement in Vietnam all contributed to the era’s contentious atmosphere. In one such landmark instance of violence in September 1971, prisoners began to riot at the Attica Correctional Facility, a prison in upstate New York. The inmates took control of the penitentiary, demanding better conditions. Eventually, 40 people—prisoners, guards, and civilians—were killed when police stormed the facility. This unprecedented outbreak illustrated the incendiary cultural environment, causing Faith Ringgold to reflect on how violence weaved itself into the fabric of American culture."— https://nmwa.org/blog/history-of-violence-faith-ringgold-documents-an-american-past/