Hey, history lovers. I'm Mike Rosenwald with Retropod, a show about the past, rediscovered.

Women have been a dynamic force for social and racial justice throughout our history.

But it wasn't until well into the 1970s that a woman led a major civil rights group.

That woman might not be who you'd expect.

Her name, Elaine Brown.

And in 1974, she became the leader of the revolutionary, militant, and at the time quite male-dominated group, the Black Panthers.

Brown's rise to the head of the Black Panthers was rather improbable.

She had once worked as a cocktail waitress at the Pink Pussycat Club in Hollywood

and was in her mid-20s when she joined the Black Panthers.

Her interest in the party started when the group's founder, Huey Newton, was convicted

of killing an Oakland police officer during a traffic stop and was sentenced to two to 15 years in prison.

The conviction was eventually overturned by an appeals court.

She decided she could be part of the problem or part of the solution.

Brown edited the party's official newspaper and became a member of the Black

Panther Central Committee as Minister of Information. She worked her way up, becoming a fearsome presence.

And when Newton had to go into exile in Cuba to avoid charges of killing a 17-year-old prostitute,

Brown took over.

In August 1974, to mark her appointment as leader, Brown summoned members to a meeting in

Oakland. A woman was taking charge of a group with some seriously strong-willed men,

and it was quite a spectacle, especially after Newton's previous alleged misdeeds against women.

Surrounded on stage that day by Black Panther security guards, Brown looked out into the audience,

and with two succinct sentences took her place in history.

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