People tell me things, and I want to know whether they are true. So I look them up.
The latest statement that I have looked up is that the Black Panthers began the W.I.C. (Woman, Infants and Children) Program. The person who told me this suggested I watch the movie, Panther, so I did. The link is the 1995 free online movie, in its entirety.
My curiosity was not satiated. I consider myself an advocate for social justice, and I like to know the truth, and the story behind these statements. For one, I had never been aware that the Black Panthers began as a community help organization.
After spending the last couple of hours looking it up, and getting sidetracked by looking up a lot of other things I ran into, and posting and commenting some partially related finds on Facebook, I can say definitively that the Black Panthers did not single-handedly begin the W.I.C. Program. They may have been instrumental in it starting, but even that is really difficult to discover in the murk of Google searches and link-following. That statement is not to diminish the real possibility that they may have inspired the W.I.C. program. It very well may never have begun if it had not been for the organization.
Most of my acquaintances who are mothers have benefited from W.I.C.. I benefited from it as a new divorcee in 1993, with children aged 1, 3 and 5. I might never have bought Juicy Juice if it weren't for W.I.C., although back then, I did not like that it was the only juice option I had to buy. I wanted the canned juice, which was cheaper. I did not like them sticking my daughter's finger for blood, and the nutritionist telling me to limit her milk intake because it was affecting her iron levels. I nearly quit the program because it upset me so much. But years later, I must admit the nutritionist was right. I did not quit. Free peanut butter was too convenient.
For years, I erroneously have believed that my grandfather's second wife's sister-in-law, Emily Cooper was instrumental in starting the W.I.C. program. I even had the page bookmarked in her husband, Wilmer A. Cooper's book, "Growing Up Plain". When Grandpa remarried Wilmer's sister, Sarah, we all received copies as gifts. However, Wilmer's wife merely helped open their first clinic in Wayne County, Indiana in 1979, and helped grow it. Because Quakers do things like that. She did not help begin the actual program. I set out to find out who did.
At first, I followed the Black Panther trail. I found a meme that never made it onto my Facebook feed about the Black Panthers starting W.I.C.. I found this Forbes article that claimed to have the dirt on the "sanitized" film. It was interesting, but given the state of the U.S. in the 1960's, I have trouble believing the stated facts in the article.
And then I found Marian Wright Edelman. Oh my.
According to this "Freedom" article by George Michelson, Marian was arrested in 1960 in an Atlanta, GA sit-in, and was inspired to go to law school. She was the first woman to pass the Mississippi Bar. Dr. King inspired her to coordinate the Poor Peoples Campaign, and in D.C., she began the public interest law firm, the Washington Research Project, an entity which created the Children's Defense Fund in 1973.
What does this have to do with W.I.C.? In 1967, according to this YouTube video uploaded by Maryland WIC Marion Wright was an attorney for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). As such, she testified for the Senate Poverty Subcommittee. Nick Kotz, a prize-winning journalist, wrote about it. As a result of the publicity, a study was launched. Senators James Thornton, Hubert Humphrey and Robert Leonard drafted legislation to create the WIC program.
Did the Black Panthers inspire the W.I.C. program? The NAACP is much older than the Black Panthers, and differed from them, as an organization, regarding self defense. However, some in the NAACP did have connections with the Black Panthers. The Black Panther's 10 Points spelled out clearly a mission to end poverty. They certainly drew a lot of attention to their cause. They began food programs in Oakland, California in the early 1960's, before Marian Wright became politically active, and she likely heard about them.
While they did not legally begin the W.I.C. program, they may very well have inspired it. Marian Wright Edelman might be the one to answer this question. She is still living, and writes for the Huffington Post.
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