History
The organization was initially known as the Consultation of Older and Younger Adults for Social Change. The group’s main goals included changing the mandatory retirement age and seeking an end to the Vietnam War. In 1972, they were nicknamed the Gray Panthers by a New York talk show producer. The name was later officially adopted by the group. As of 2010 the group operated under a system of participatory democracy, designed to allow all of their members a say in the group’s direction.
The national office of the Gray Panthers has been located in Washington, D.C. since 1990. Previous office locations included Philadelphia, PA.
In 1992 former national Head Start administrator Jule Sugarman accepted the position of Interim executive director of the Gray Panthers, who were by then on the brink of insolvency, to help the group reorganize its by-laws, its board of directors, and its fund-raising activities.
Although their slogan was “Age and Youth in Action,” the group was seen by many as meeting the needs of only senior citizens.
The national Gray Panthers organization was a collection of local networks. The group gained official NGO (Non-governmental Organization) status at the United Nations in 1981. Seven Gray Panthers representatives participate in various UN committees and conferences.
The Gray Panthers celebrated their 40th Anniversary "Year of Activism" in 2010.
Read more about this topic: Gray Panthers
Famous quotes containing the word history:
“In history an additional result is commonly produced by human actions beyond that which they aim at and obtain—that which they immediately recognize and desire. They gratify their own interest; but something further is thereby accomplished, latent in the actions in question, though not present to their consciousness, and not included in their design.”
—Georg Wilhelm Friedrich Hegel (1770–1831)
“We said that the history of mankind depicts man; in the same way one can maintain that the history of science is science itself.”
—Johann Wolfgang Von Goethe (1749–1832)
“It is the true office of history to represent the events themselves, together with the counsels, and to leave the observations and conclusions thereupon to the liberty and faculty of every man’s judgement.”
—Francis Bacon (1561–1626)