Spend time in West Oakland today and you’ll still glimpse traces of the history that was made there 50 years ago. The Black Panther mural on Mandela may have been lost, but other tributes, like the annual Bobby Hutton Day celebration at DeFremery Park, endure. In a new photo book by Stephen Shames, the neighborhood green space is recognizable as the scene of Panther-organized political rallies, community food services and sickle-cell anemia testing. It’s a good reminder that these sites still resonate with unresolved struggle.

Shames was a college student in 1967 when he met Black Panther Party founder Bobby Seale selling copies of Mao’s Little Red Book at a protest in San Francisco. Their chance encounter would lead the young activist down the path of photojournalism, and provide the burgeoning Black Panthers—which would go on to have offices in 68 cities—with a uniquely intimate visual record. Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers, which Mr. Seale co-authored, is timed for release with the 50th anniversary of the party’s founding, and coincides with exhibitions of Shame’s photography in Berkeley and New York.

What resonates most about Shame’s work here, beside his access to legendary figures like Huey Newton and Eldridge Cleaver, is the way he manages a full picture of the Panthers’ activities. From overt political activism to the logistics of Panther armed police patrols and the formation of their Ten Point Platform, these images take us behind the scenes of revolution in process.

All photographs from Power to the People: The World of the Black Panthers by Stephen Shames and Bobby Seale, published by Abrams.