41st & Central: The So-Cal Black Panthers Let It All Out

41st & Central, a two part documentary series, follows the Southern California Chapter of the Black Panther Party from its glorious Black Power beginnings through to its tragic demise. Despite the Party’s formation of free medical clinics and a successful breakfast program for children, the L.A. chapter was also known as the most violent Black political group in the United States. 41st & Central explores The Black Panther ethos, its conflict with the L.A.P.D. and the US Organization as well as the events that shaped the complicated and often contradictory legacy of the L.A. Panthers.

41st & Central contains interviews with former Black Panther Party members along with archival footage detailing the history of racism in Los Angeles, including the Watt’s uprising from the perspective of the participants who “engaged with the L.A.P.D.” 41st & Central is the most in-depth study ever of L.A. Chapter founder Alpretice “Bunchy Carter”, with the Party’s formation told by the original surviving members and an eyewitness account of Bunchy and John Huggins murder at U.C.L.A. in 1968. The film includes exclusive interviews with Black Panther Party leaders Geronimo Ji Jagga and Elaine Brown about their membership in the L.A. Chapter and the U.C.L.A. murders. Also featured are L.A. Panthers members Ericka Huggins, Roland & Ronald Freeman, Wayne Pharr, Jeffrey Everett, Long John Washington, Muhammad Mubarak, former L.A.P.D. Chief Bernard Parks, US Organization member Wesley Kabaila, U.C.L.A. Professor Scot Brown, and many others.