FREE THE NEW HAVEN PANTHERS

On May 1, 1970, New Haven, Connecticut, was the site of a national protest, a pivotal trial, and a college campus in uproar. Such were the unique circumstances surrounding the arrest of the group of Black Panther activists known as the “New Haven Nine” for the murder of Alex Rackley, a suspected FBI informant. At a time when racialized violence and oppression against Black people was widespread and well known in the United States, the May Day Rally represented a renewed call for racial justice from New Haven residents, affiliates of Yale University, and activists from around the country, including but not limited to those from the Black Panther Party.

The May Day Rally represented a pivotal moment for all parties involved. For the university, questions about its role in supporting protesters from around the country who came to New Haven to make their voices heard accompanied demands from students, faculty, and staff to support racial justice movements in the United States. The Black Panthers, through their eponymous newspaper, graphics, and flyers, used the rally as a formulation of their broader political project: to fight for the liberation of Black people and to push back against a racist political regime. Additionally, many other New Haven residents came out to show support for the Black freedom cause and to emphasize their solidarity with marginalized Black citizens in the United States.

The rally had its detractors. But by and large, the May Day Rally symbolized the increasing sense of the importance of racial justice that permeated the late 1960s and early 1970s, bringing together groups of people from disparate backgrounds and experiences to fight for the cause.