Huey P. Newton
Personal Information
Description
Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African-American political and civil rights activist who, along with fellow Merritt College student Bobby Seale, co-founded the Black Panther Party (1966–1982). Together with Seale, Newton created a ten-point program which laid out guidelines for how, in their words, the African-American community could achieve liberation. In the 1960s, under Newton's leadership, the Black Panther Party founded over 60 community support programs (renamed survival programs in 1971) including food banks, medical clinics, sickle cell anemia tests, prison busing for families of inmates, legal advice seminars, clothing banks, housing cooperates, and their own ambulance service. The most famous of these programs was the Free Breakfast for Children program which fed thousands of impoverished children daily during the early 1970s. Newton also co-founded the Black Panther newspaper service which became one of America's most widely distributed African-American newspapers. In 1967, he was involved in a shootout which led to the death of a police officer John Frey and injuries to himself and another police officer. In 1968, he was convicted of voluntary manslaughter for Frey's death and sentenced to 2 to 15 years in prison. In May 1970, the conviction was reversed and after two subsequent trials ended in hung juries, the charges were dropped. In 1974 he was accused of murdering 17 year-old Kathleen Smith. After two trials and two deadlocked juries, the prosecution decided not to retry Newton. He was also accused of involvement in the 1974 murder of Betty Van Patter. Despite graduating from high school not knowing how to read, he taught himself literacy by reading Plato's Republic and earned a Ph.D. in social philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz's History of Consciousness program in 1980. In 1989, he was murdered in Oakland, California by Tyrone Robinson, a member of the Black Guerrilla Family. Newton was known for being an advocate of self-defense, Palestinian statehood, and for his support of communist-led governments in China, Cuba, Laos, North Korea, and Vietnam. * [Huey P. Newton - Wikipedia](
Books
The Huey P. Newton reader
"The First Comprehensive Collection of writings by the Black Panther Party founder and revolutionary icon of the black liberation era, The Huey P. Newton Reader combines now-classic texts with never-before-published writings from the Black Panther Party archives. Topics include: the formation of the Black Panthers; African Americans and armed self-defense; prison martyr George Jackson; Eldridge Cleaver's controversial expulsion from the Party; FBI infiltration of civil rights groups;the Vietnam War; and the burgeoning feminist movement. Among the new writings that are being published here for the first time from the Black Panther Party archives and Newton'n private collection, are articles on: President Nixon; environmentalism; Pan-Africanism; James Baldwin; and affirmative action."--BOOK JACKET.
War against the Panthers
The actions undertaken by the U.S. government against the Black Panther Party illustrate not only the nature and extent of tactics the government will employ to crush dissident groups, but the seriousness with which the Party was perceived as a potential threat to those in power. There is no dispute that the Party suffered from more hostile and severe government acts directed against it than any domestic political organization in the twentieth century.
Revolutionary suicide
The searing, visionary memoir of founding Black Panther Huey P. Newton, in a dazzling graphic package Eloquently tracing the birth of a revolutionary, Huey P. Newton's famous and oft-quoted autobiography is as much a manifesto as a portrait of the inner circle of America's Black Panther Party. From Newton's impoverished childhood on the streets of Oakland to his adolescence and struggles with the system, from his role in the Black Panthers to his solitary confinement in the Alameda County Jail, Revolutionary Suicide is smart, unrepentant, and thought-provoking in its portrayal of inspired radicalism.
To Die for the People
Long an iconic figure for radicals, Huey Newton is now being discovered by those interested in the history of America’s social movements. This new release of a classic collection of his writings and speeches traces the development of Newton’s personal and political thinking, as well as the radical changes that took place in the formative years of the Black Panther Party. More than just a historic record, Newton’s prescience and foresight make these documents strikingly pertinent today. Huey Newton was the founder, leader, and chief theoretician of the Black Panther Party, and one of America’s most dynamic and important revolutionary philosophers.
Revolutionary Intercommunalism and the Right of Nations to Self-determination
The New Huey P. Newton Reader
"The first comprehensive collection of writings by the Black Panther Party founder and revolutionary icon of the black liberation era, now in a new edition with a new introduction by former Black Panther Party chairman Elaine Brown. The Huey P. Newton Reader combines now-classic texts from Newton's books (Revolutionary Suicide, To Die for the People, In Search of Common Ground, and War Against the Panthers) ranging in topic from the formation of the Black Panthers, African Americans and armed self-defense, Eldridge Cleaver's controversial expulsion from the Party, FBI infiltration of civil rights groups, the Vietnam War, and the burgeoning feminist movement. Editors Hilliard and Weise also include never-before-published writings from the Black Panther Party archives and Newton's private collection, including articles on President Nixon, prison martyr George Jackson, Pan-Africanism, affirmative action, and the author's only written account of his political exile in Cuba in the mid-1970s. Eldridge Cleaver, Bobby Seale, Angela Davis, Mumia Abu-Jamal, and Geronimo Pratt all came to international prominence through Newton's groundbreaking political activism. Additionally, Newton served as the Party's chief intellectual engine, conversing with world leaders such as Yasser Arafat, Chinese premier Chou Enlai, and Mozambique president Samora Moises Machel among others. Beginning with his founding of the Black Panther Party in 1966, HUEY P. NEWTON (1941-89) set the political stage for events that would quickly place him and the Panthers at the forefront of the African American liberation movement for the next twenty years"--