Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale were the co-founders of the Black Panthers, a revolutionary black nationalist and socialist organization founded in 1966. Seale was an American political activist and author who served as the chairman of the Black Panther Party from 1966 to 1974. He was also a leader of the Civil Rights Movement and a prominent figure in the Black Power movement. Seale was born in Texas and attended Merritt College in Oakland, California, where he met Newton. Together, they formed the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, which became one of the most influential organizations of the 1960s and 1970s.