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.
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“The principle office of history I take to be this: to prevent virtuous actions from being forgotten, and that evil words and deeds should fear an infamous reputation with posterity.”
—Tacitus (c. 55–117)
“Bias, point of view, fury—are they ... so dangerous and must they be ironed out of history, the hills flattened and the contours leveled? The professors talk ... about passion and point of view in history as a Calvinist talks about sin in the bedroom.”
—Catherine Drinker Bowen (1897–1973)
“There is a constant in the average American imagination and taste, for which the past must be preserved and celebrated in full-scale authentic copy; a philosophy of immortality as duplication. It dominates the relation with the self, with the past, not infrequently with the present, always with History and, even, with the European tradition.”
—Umberto Eco (b. 1932)