The Black Panthers Who Never Came Home
Fifty-nine years after Huey Newton and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panthers, Charlotte and Pete O’Neal remain in exile in Tanzania. Their story, told through interviews, archives, and firsthand reporting, reveals the movement’s enduring legacy.
Pete and Charlotte O’Neal at the United African Alliance Community Center (UAACC) in Tanzania, where they have lived in exile since 1972 (Jaclynn Ashly / Jacobin)
Charlotte Hill O’Neal is known by several names.
In Northern Tanzania, where she has lived for decades, she is known as “Mama C” because her name is hard for locals to pronounce. She is also called “Mama Africa” for her Afrocentric appearance — including Maasai cheek scarification and a labret nose piercing — and for inspiring local youth to be proud of their cultures.
Her Orisha spiritual name, Osotunde Fasuyi, was given to her during her initiation as a priestess in the Orisha tradition of the Yoruba faith — one of the world’s oldest living religious traditions.
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