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Robinson contended that Newton pulled a gun when the two met at a street corner in the neighborhood, Sergeant Mercado said, "But investigators said they found no evidence Newton had been armed." The killing occurred in a neighborhood where Newton, as minister of defense for the Black Panthers, once tried to set up [[social program]]s to help destitute blacks.
Robinson contended that Newton pulled a gun when the two met at a street corner in the neighborhood, Sergeant Mercado said, "But investigators said they found no evidence Newton had been armed." The killing occurred in a neighborhood where Newton, as minister of defense for the Black Panthers, once tried to set up [[social program]]s to help destitute blacks.


Newton was shot three times in the face by Robinson, who went by the street name "Double R".<ref>Pearson, Hugh, (1994) ''The Shadow of the Panther'', p. 315</ref>
Newton was shot three times in the face by Robinson, who went by the street name "Double R".<ref>Pearson, Hugh, (1994) ''The Shadow of the Panther'', p. 315</ref> Newton allegedly said these last words as he stood facing his killer, "You can kill my body, but you can't kill my soul. My soul will live forever!"


==In popular culture==
==In popular culture==

Revision as of 13:51, 17 October 2010

Huey Percy Newton
File:Huey P. Newton.jpg
Born(1942-02-17)February 17, 1942
Monroe, Louisiana, USA
DiedAugust 22, 1989(1989-08-22) (aged 47)
Oakland, California, USA
EducationUC Santa Cruz, Ph.D. (1980)
OccupationActivist
Political partyBlack Panther Party
Spouse(s)Gwen Fontaine (1974–1983)
Fredrika Newton (1984–1989)

Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989), was co-founder and leader of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense, a radical African-American organization established to promote Black Power, human rights, socio-political liberation and self-defense.

Biography

Huey Newton was born in Monroe, Louisiana to Armelia and Walter Newton, a sharecropper and Baptist minister respectively. Newton was the youngest child in his family, and was named for Huey Long. His family moved to California when he was three. Despite completing his secondary education at Oakland Technical High School, Newton did not know how to read. During his course of self-study, he struggled to read Plato's Republic, which he understood after reading through it five times. It was this success, he told an interviewer, that sparked him to become a leader.[1]

As a teenager, he was arrested several times for minor offenses, and by age 14 had been arrested for gun possession and vandalism.[2]. Newton supported himself in college by burglarizing homes in the Oakland and Berkeley Hills areas, and committing other petty crime. Newton once claimed he studied law to become a better burglar.

Founding of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense

While at Merritt College, Newton became involved in politics in the Bay Area. He joined the Afro-American Association, became a prominent member of Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc. Beta Tau chapter, and played a role in getting the first black history course adopted as part of the college's curriculum. He read the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Zedong, and Che Guevara. It was during his time at Merritt College[3] that Newton, along with Bobby Seale, organized the Black Panther Party for Self Defense in October 1966. After a coin toss Seale assumed the role of Chairman, while Newton became Minister of Defense.[4]

The Black Panther Party was an African-American revolutionary left-wing organization working for the self-defense for black people. It was active in the United States from the mid-1960s into the 1970s. The Black Panther Party achieved national and international impact and renown through their deep involvement in the Black Power movement and in US politics of the 1960s and 70s, as the intense anti-racism of the time is today considered one of the most significant social, political and cultural currents in US history. The group's "provocative rhetoric, militant posture, and cultural and political flourishes permanently altered the contours of American Identity."[5]

Accusation of murder

Newton was accused of murdering Oakland police officer John Frey. Frey had stopped Newton before dawn on October 28, 1967, and attempted to disarm and discourage the Panther patrols. After fellow officer Herbert Heanes arrived for backup, shots were fired, and all three were wounded. Heanes testified that the shooting began after Newton was under arrest, and a surprise witness testified that Newton shot Frey with Frey's own gun as they wrestled.[6][7] No gun for Frey or Newton was found.[7] Newton himself claimed that Frey shot him first, which made him subsequently pass out for the rest of the incident; Newton also claimed that it appeared (from the courtroom testimony of the surviving officer) that the two police officers either shot each other, or there was a third shooter (most likely the former).[8] Frey was hit four times and died within the hour, while Heanes was left in a serious condition with three bullet wounds. With a bullet wound to the abdomen, Newton staggered into the city's Kaiser Hospital. He was admitted but was later shocked to find himself chained to his bed.[9] Newton also recalls in his book vague images of being operated on in the hospital while police were interrogating him.

Charged with murdering Frey, Newton was convicted in September 1968 of voluntary manslaughter and was sentenced to 2–15 years in prison. In May 1970, the California Appellate Court reversed the conviction and ordered a new trial. After two subsequent mistrials, the State of California dropped the case.[9]

In 1974, Newton and his partner Gwen Fountaine, fled to Cuba to avoid prosecution for allegedly pistol whipping his tailor, and murdering a prostitute (charges that were later thrown out of court)[10]. Newton lived in exile in Cuba from 1974 to 1977, along with many other African American activists and other Panthers who were seeking political asylum[11].

In January 1977, Peoples Temple leader Jim Jones visited Newton in Cuba.[12] After Jones fled to Jonestown, Guyana, Newton spoke to Temple members in Jonestown via phone patch supporting Jones during one of the Temple's earliest "White Nights."[13] Newton's cousin, Stanley Clayton, was one of the few residents of Jonestown to escape the 1978 tragedy, during which more than 900 Temple members were ordered by Jones to commit suicide.[13]

In 1977 Newton enrolled in the University of California, Santa Cruz where he completed his doctoral dissertation, "War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America" - a history of the FBI's COINTELPRO and other operations to destroy the Panther Party[10].

Later life

Newton earned a bachelor's degree from University of California, Santa Cruz in 1974. He was enrolled as a graduate student in History of Consciousness at University of California, Santa Cruz in 1978, when he arranged to take a reading course from famed evolutionary biologist Robert Trivers, while in prison. He and Trivers became close friends. Trivers and Newton published an influential analysis of the role of flight crew self-deception in the crash of Air Florida Flight 90.[14] Later, Newton's widow, Frederika Newton, would discuss her husband's often-ignored academic leanings on C-SPAN's "American Perspectives" program on February 18, 2006, mentioning that Newton earned a Ph.D. from UC Santa Cruz in 1980[clarification needed]. His doctoral dissertation was entitled "War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America."[15]

Death

On August 22, 1989, Newton was fatally shot on the 1400 block of 9th street in West Oakland by a 24-year-old Black Guerilla Family member, Tyrone Robinson.[16] Robinson was convicted of the murder in August 1991 and sentenced to 32 years for the crime.[17] Official accounts claimed that the killer was a known drug dealer in Oakland.[3]

Robinson contended that Newton pulled a gun when the two met at a street corner in the neighborhood, Sergeant Mercado said, "But investigators said they found no evidence Newton had been armed." The killing occurred in a neighborhood where Newton, as minister of defense for the Black Panthers, once tried to set up social programs to help destitute blacks.

Newton was shot three times in the face by Robinson, who went by the street name "Double R".[18] Newton allegedly said these last words as he stood facing his killer, "You can kill my body, but you can't kill my soul. My soul will live forever!"

There are many references to Huey Newton in popular music, including in the songs "Changes" by Tupac Shakur,[19] "Welcome To The Terrordome" by Public Enemy, "Queens Get The Money" by Nas, "Sunny Kim" by Andre Nickatina, "Just A Celebrity" by The Jacka, "Same Thing" by Flobots, "Dreams" by The Game, "You Can't Murder Me" by Papoose, "Police State" by Dead Prez, "Propaganda" by Dead Prez "We Want Freedom" by Dead Prez. In the comic strip and cartoon show The Boondocks, the main character Huey Freeman, a ten year-old African-American revolutionary, is named after Newton; another reference comes when Freeman starts an independent newspaper, dubbing it the Free Huey World Report.[20] In 1996, A Huey P. Newton Story was performed on stage by veteran actor Roger Guenveur Smith. The one-man play later was made into an award-winning 2001 film directed by Spike Lee.[21]

Bibliography

  • Brown, Elaine. A Taste of Power. (Anchor Books: 1993) ISBN 0-385-47107-6.
  • Foner, Philip S. (editor) The Black Panthers Speak - The Manifesto of the Party: The First Complete Documentary Record of the Panther's Program (Dial, 1970)
  • "People of the state of California, plaintiff & respondent, vs. Huey P. Newton, defendant and appellant: Appellant's opening brief" (ERIC reports)
  • Hilliard, David and Keith and Kent Zimmerman. Huey: Spirit of the Panther (Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006)
  • Jeffries, Judson L. Huey P. Newton, The Radical Theorist (University of Mississippi Press, 2002)
  • Pearson, Hugh. Shadow of the Panther: Huey P. Newton and the Price of Black |Power in America (Addison Wesley, 1994)
  • Seale, Bobby. Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton (Random House, 1970)
  • Obituary in The New York Times by Dennis Hevesi, (August 23, 1989). "Huey Newton Symbolized the Rising Black Anger of a Generation"

Books, articles, and oral histories by or with Huey P. Newton

  • Huey Newton Speaks oral history by Huey P. Newton (Paredon Records, 1970)
  • Huey!: Listen Whitey! protest songs/spoken word by Huey P. Newton; produced by American Documentary Films; released by Folkways Records (1972)
  • To Die for the People: The Writings of Huey P. Newton Toni Morrison (Editor) (Random House, 1972)
  • Revolutionary Suicide with J. Herman Blake (Random House, 1973; republished in 1995 with introduction by Blake)
  • Insights and Poems by Huey P. Newton, Ericka Huggins 1975)
  • War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America by Huey P. Newton (Harlem River Press, 1996: the published version of Newton's PhD thesis)
  • The Huey P. Newton Reader David Hilliard and Donald Weise (Editors) (Seven Stories Press, 2002)
  • Essays from the Minister of Defense by Huey P Newton
  • The Genius of Huey P. Newton by Huey P. Newton
  • The original vision of the Black Panther Party by Huey P Newton
  • Huey Newton talks to the movement about the Black Panther Party, cultural nationalism, SNCC, liberals and white revolutionaries by Huey P Newton
  • Huey Spirit of the Panther by David Hillard with Keith and Kent Zimmerman (Thunder's Mouth Press)
  • To Die for the People by Huey Newton (City Lights Publishers, 2009)

See also

References

  1. ^ Gates, Anita (February 13, 2002). "An American Panther, In His Own Words". New York Times. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  2. ^ Jones, Jackie (February 17, 2009). "Black History Month Faces and Places: Huey P. Newton". BlackAmericaWeb.com.
  3. ^ a b Biography Resource Center (2001). "Huey P. Newton". Gale Group Inc. Retrieved 2009-04-25.
  4. ^ Seale, Bobby, Seize the Time: The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton, p 62
  5. ^ , Curtis. Life of A Party. Crisis ; Sep/Oct2006, Vol. 113 Issue 5, p30-37, 8p
  6. ^ "Witness Says Newton Shot Policeman", New York Times, Aug 8, 1968
  7. ^ a b "State Opens Case of Black Panther", New York Times, Aug 6, 1968
  8. ^ The Huey P. Newton Reader by Huey P. Newton, chapters "crisis: October 28, 1967" and "trial"
  9. ^ a b Hillard, David Huey: Spirit of the Panther Thunder's Mouth Press, 2006.
  10. ^ a b Huey P. Newton, David Hilliard, Donald Weise (2002). The Huey P. Newton Reader. Seven Stories Press. p. 293. ISBN 9781583224670. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |editors= ignored (|editor= suggested) (help)CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  11. ^ Wilbur C. Rich (2007). African American perspectives on political science. Temple University Press. ISBN 9781592131099.
  12. ^ Reiterman, Tim, Tom Reiterman, and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People. Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0-525-24136-1. p. 284.
  13. ^ a b Reiterman, Tim, Tom Reiterman, and John Jacobs. Raven: The Untold Story of Reverend Jim Jones and His People. Dutton, 1982. ISBN 0-525-24136-1. p. 369.
  14. ^ Trivers, R.L. & Newton, H.P. Science Digest "The crash of flight 90: doomed by self-deception?" November 1982.
  15. ^ Newton, Huey P. (June 1, 1980). "War Against The Panthers: A Study Of Repression In America". University of California, Santa Cruz. {{cite journal}}: Cite journal requires |journal= (help)
  16. ^ "Suspect Admits Shooting Newton, Police Say". Associated Press in New York Times. August 27, 1989. Retrieved 2008-05-12. The police said late Friday that an admitted drug dealer had acknowledged killing Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. {{cite news}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help); Italic or bold markup not allowed in: |publisher= (help)
  17. ^ Los Angeles Times, 10-10-91, pA22; 12-5-91, pA19.
  18. ^ Pearson, Hugh, (1994) The Shadow of the Panther, p. 315
  19. ^ Lazerow, Jama (2006). In Search of the Black Panther Party: New Perspectives on a Revolutionary Movement. Duke University: Duke University Press. p. 9. ISBN 0822338904. {{cite book}}: Unknown parameter |coauthors= ignored (|author= suggested) (help)
  20. ^ Datcher, Michael (October 2003). "Free Huey: Aaron McGruder's Outer Child is Taking on America". Crisis. pp. 41–43..
  21. ^ "Awards for A Huey P. Newton Story". Internet Movie Database. Retrieved 2008-06-24. {{cite web}}: Cite has empty unknown parameter: |coauthors= (help)
Wikiquote has quotations related to Huey Newton.

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