People's Party II Office

In early 1970 a group led by Carl Hampton, a 21-year-old organizer who had grown up in Houston's Pleasantville neighborhood, moved to California as a teenager and came back to Houston in 1969 to build a Black Panther chapter, rented an office in the 2800 block of Dowling Street, at its corner with Tuam Street. It became the headquarters of People's Party II, a forerunner of the Houston Black Panther Party, which handed out food and clothing to Third Ward residents and helped them recover stolen goods from pawn shops. Dowling Street is now Emancipation Avenue. On July 17, 1970, Hampton, openly carrying a pistol, challenged two police officers who were harassing a party member selling The Black Panther newspaper. The encounter became a standoff in the middle of Dowling Street: armed members took Hampton inside, hundreds of neighborhood residents surrounded the building, and after negotiations failed the police withdrew without making an arrest.

Nine days later, on the night of July 26, more than 200 officers converged on Dowling after an armed teenager ran from patrolmen toward St. John Missionary Baptist Church, a block north of the office. Two intelligence officers took positions on the church's flat roof. Around 10:30 p.m. Hampton stepped out to see what was happening and was shot in an exchange of gunfire; four others connected to the party were wounded, and Hampton died at Ben Taub Hospital. Police said they had fired in self-defense. A Harris County grand jury declined to indict the officers, and much of Black Houston rejected the police account.