Elaine Brown

Elaine Brown is a former leader of the Black Panther Party, as Minister of Information then Chairman. She is the author of "A Taste of Power" and "The Condemnation of Little B." "A Taste of Power," her autobiography, is slated for film production with Alicia Keys to play Brown, and was recently published as an audiobook by Audible, and published in the UK and France.

As Executive Director of the Michael Lewis Legal Defense Committee, supporting the legal appeal of Lewis (“Little B”), who, arrested in 1997 in Atlanta, Georgia, at the age of 13 for a murder he did not commit, was convicted and sentenced as an adult to life in prison, Brown sustained a campaign for his freedom for over 27 years. On September 27, 2023, Michael, at 40 years old, was released on parole to live in California.

Brown is CEO of the non-profit organization Oakland & the World Enterprises, Inc. (OAW), dedicated to launching and sustaining for-profit businesses for cooperative ownership by formerly incarcerated and other people facing extreme barriers to economic survival. On July 16, 2024, OAW, as co-developer/owner with McCormack Baron Salazar, hosted the Grand Opening of its Black Panther Apartments building, a 79-unit, 100% affordable housing complex in West Oakland that includes ground floor space for the OAW-sponsored businesses: a neighborhood market, restaurant, fitness center, urban farm and tech center.

Brown was inducted into the Alameda County (California) Women’s Hall of Fame in 2024. In 2025, she received a “Real Estate Deal of the Year” award from and recognized as one of the Most Influential Women in Bay Area Business by the San Francisco Business Times. In April 2025, the Oakland City Council passed a resolution to re-name a street “Elaine Brown Way.”

Brown studied classical piano for many years, including at the Philadelphia Conservatory of Music, and has recorded two albums of original songs, one for Motown records—which recently re-issued a vinyl of her album, Until We’re Free. Brown's papers are archived at Emory University. Brown is the mother of one daughter, Ericka, and resides in Oakland, California.