6/19/2023 0 Comments Huey p. newton and tyrone robinsonLater, he enrolled in UC Santa Cruz’s famed History of Consciousness program his 1980 thesis was published as Newton 1996. Like many other key figures in the BPP, Newton published an autobiography, Newton and Blake 1973, that wove his personal history into that of the BPP. Erikson and Newton 1973 is a compelling read, although more for the atmosphere of the debates it transcribes than for its intellectual qualities. Foner 1995 (first published 1970) offers a partial selection but is essential for an overview of the intellectual ferment of the BPP in the period between 19 Hilliard and Weise 2002 expands the chronology but overlooks some key documents. Of them, Morrison 1972 remains the authoritative source. Various publications collect these works. His enforced seclusion, first in prison and then in his apartment, led to a broadening of his vision that drew on the work of numerous revolutionaries whose work owes a debt to Marxism and Marxism-Leninism, most notably Frantz Fanon. These all remain essential documents of the radical 1960s and were first published in The Black Panther newspaper. In addition, there was the BPP’s Ten Point Platform and Program, which outlined the BPP’s cogent analysis of American racism. His early writings include the still startling “In Defense of Self-Defense” and “Executive Mandate Number One,” which not only established the BPP’s theory of armed self-defense, but also positioned the party within a worldwide, centuries-long liberation struggle. He was shot and killed in West Oakland by Tyrone Robinson, a local gang member, following an altercation over a drug deal.Īs the leading intellectual light of the BPP, Newton’s pronouncements received considerable attention. Following the collapse of the BPP amid accusations of financial impropriety, Newton essentially disappeared from public life. He returned in 1977 to face the charges, which were eventually dropped. In 1974 he fled the United States for Cuba, fearing prosecution for the murder of a teenager, Kathleen Smith. Newton’s long-term use of cocaine did little to help. Just as important was an extensive FBI campaign of disinformation, surveillance, infiltration, and occasional violence. Returning in August 1970 to a transformed BPP, Newton struggled to cope with the fame and expectations placed upon him. Two further retrials led to deadlocked juries. He served two years in prison, being released after his appeal revealed that the presiding judge of his original trial twice incorrectly instructed the jury and allowed disputed evidence to be presented to the jury. Despite a fervent “Free Huey” campaign and a bravura defense from his attorney, Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter. The subsequent trial transformed the BPP and Newton into international phenomena. On 28 October 1967 he was charged with the murder of Oakland police officer John Frey. The BPP initially focused on protesting police brutality in Oakland, most importantly through a sequence of patrols of police officers, which involved armed Panthers observing police activities in Oakland, informing local citizens of their legal rights during any arrest procedure and ensuring that the police conducted their duties lawfully and respectfully and the May 1967 protest at the California State Capitol, one of the central events of the 1960s (although Newton was absent from the latter due to probation restrictions). After joining, and becoming disillusioned by, a sequence of campus organizations, in October 1966 he formed the Black Panther Party (BPP) with his friend and fellow student Bobby Seale, who credits Newton as the principal architect of the BPP’s political philosophy and the driving force behind its early activism. Alongside self-directed learning, he then studied at Merritt College in Oakland, one of the city’s hotbeds of political discussion and activism. He graduated from Oakland Technical High School in 1959, but forever claimed that school failed him, notably in the fact that he graduated without learning to read. Born in Monroe, Louisiana to Armelia Johnson and Walter Newton, he joined the Great Migration as a child when his family relocated to Oakland, California. 1989) is a singular figure in African American history.
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