One of the hidden aspects of the Black Panther Party in the California Bay Area was its contributions to the nascent disability rights movement in the 1970s. In 1977, the Party famously supported a 26-day occupation of a federal building in San Francisco during the nationwide “504 Movement” demanding the passage of legislation to outlaw ability-based discrimination in federally-financed programs. This Wednesday, November 29 in-person conversation at UC Berkeley around the intersectionalities of Disability and Blackness included former Panthers and disability rights activists who provided background on the roots of the Party and Black activism in the disability rights movement. Speakers: Dennis Billups, blind disability rights activist; 504 Movement participant Leroy Moore, writer, poet, activist; founder of Krip Hop john a. powell, Director of the Othering & Belonging Institute Karen Nakamura, Disability Studies Chair & Professor of Anthropology, UC Berkeley This event was part of UC Berkeley's yearlong On The Same Page Initiative. It was supported by the College of Letters and Science and the Othering & Belonging Institute.