Panther in the Sky

This historical, realistic fiction children's book honors the real life of Black Panther Mark Clark who was a youth NAACP leader at the age of 15. Mark Clark later became a Defense Captain in the Black Panther Party. He founded the Peoria, Illinois Black Panther Chapter and fed children daily through the Breakfast for Children Program. He led other survival programs for the people prior to helping Chairman Fred Hampton in Chicago, Illinois. The Breakfast for Children Program was a great success. It fed tens of thousands of children daily across the country and their academics improved. The Black Panther's breakfast program model was the forerunner of the federal breakfast program that currently provides free/reduced breakfast for schools and the Head Start Program.

This book was created by an educator to help adults use the book to teach lessons to the youth of today. Black Lives Matter and they always have! There were many historical figures like Defense Captain Mark Clark that were loyal to the cause and the fight for THE PEOPLE! These stories may be lesser known and not written in the history books, but it is so relevant that WE THE PEOPLE honor their contributions and tell the true history of these martyrs.

Curious and excited by the family stories of Uncle, young Ebony longed to know as much as she could about her great uncle. He was a Black Panther leader. Uncle was mighty in her eyes. He fought in the civil rights movement and served the community with joy. Ebony's mom made sure that Uncle's legacy would live on so she often talked about his place in black history. Ebony promised when she grew up to give back to her community like Uncle did. She understood the meaning of Ubuntu: "I am because we are!"