The Black Panther Party was founded by Bobby Seale and Huey Newton in October of 1996. The Black Panther Party's purpose was for self-defense. The Black Panthers practiced active self-defense of minority communities against the U.S. government. They also fought to establish revolutionary socialism through mass organizing and community programs. The Black Panthers were one of the first groups to actively struggle for working class democracy and ethnic minority; a group whose goal was the revolutionary establishment of social, real economic, and political equality across gender and color.