One of the activities Teresa Williams remembers as a student at the Black Panther Party’s Oakland Community School was a field trip to the Oakland Airport. The students entered a vacant plane where they were encouraged to dream and envision where they would like to go someday.
“Though we didn’t have any money, I sat on the plane and saw myself flying all over,” Williams said. “Now, I’m a teacher who has traveled to many places, including several countries in Africa.”
Growing up Panther
Teresa D. Williams’ parents, Louis Randolph and Mary Williams joined the Black Panther Party in its formative years. They entrusted the Party with their children’s upbringing as they labored for the cause. While she and her siblings received a good education and had outstanding teachers, the experience was often bittersweet.
Williams, the third of six children, was a toddler when her parents joined the Panthers in 1966. Her father was a foot soldier in the Party. Mary Nell Williams was one of the primary cooks at the Lamp Post, a restaurant the Black Panthers regularly frequented…