Artie Seale (Mrs. Bobby Seale)

In October 1969, the Videofreex visited the home of wealthy political and social activist, Lucy Montgomery, as she was hosting the Black Panther Party of Chicago during one of their most fraught times – the period just after Chairman Bobby Seale was wrongfully imprisoned for inciting riots at the Democratic National Convention a year earlier. This video documents an interview with the wife of Bobby Seale, Artie Seale.

The video opens with a statement by Mrs. Seale regarding her husband’s illegal imprisonment, the unfairness his current trial and the general purpose of the Black Panther Party. The tape provides a platform for Mrs. Seale to espouse the values of the party, its goals, and the injustices it is currently suffering. The intensity of the message is counterbalanced by brief points of informality during the interview – a lighter side of Mrs. Seale is revealed in between moments of her well-rehearsed, and dedicated talking points. The overall tone of the conversation, however, remains appropriately somber as she communicates her party’s tenets, its revolutionary politics, and its educational goals.

— Nicolas Holt, 2016