The family fled to Oakland, California, in the mid-1940s when Huey was a toddler. His father, a Baptist minister, was almost lynched for talking back to a white overseer. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party and one of the disenchanted and revolutionary sons of the Great Migration, was born February 17, 1942, to sharecroppers Walter and Armelia Newton in Monroe, Louisiana. Read how Newton’s story is connected to the Great Migration in this post by Isabel Wilkerson, author of The Warmth of Other Sons: The Epic Story of America’s Great Migration. He often visited the Panther schools and breakfast programs. Newton went on to become co-founder of The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense. Click to read the story of the young girl in the photo. Read more.Huey Newton surrounded by youth of East Oakland community, August 1970. (Newton wasn't present at the demonstration.) The action was a shocking one that made news across the country, and Newton emerged as a leading figure in the Black militant movement. For example, to protest a gun bill in 1967, members of the Panthers entered the California Legislature armed. The organization itself was not afraid to punctuate its message with dramatic appearances. It also called for an end to economic exploitation of Black communities, along with military exemption. The group set forth its political goals in a document entitled the Ten-Point Program, which called for better housing, jobs and education for African Americans. A famous photograph shows Newton - the group's minister of defense - holding a gun in one hand and a spear in the other. Unlike many of the other social and political organizers of the time, they took a more militant stance to the plight of Black communities in America. Founded in 1966, they called their group the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The two were briefly involved with political groups at the school before they set out to create one of their own. In the mid-1960s, Newton decided to pursue his education at Merritt College, during which time he received a months-long prison term for a knife assault, and later attended the University of San Francisco School of Law. He nonetheless became his own teacher, learning to read by himself. Although Newton graduated high school in 1959, he was considered barely literate. Though later stating he was close to his family, the youngster had a difficult time early in life, which was reflected in highly erratic behavior at school and on the streets.ĭespite having multiple suspensions and run-ins with the law as a teen, Newton began to take his education seriously, finding inspiration when his older brother Melvin earned a master's in social work. The youngest of seven siblings, he and his family moved to Oakland, California when Newton was a toddler. Newton helped establish the African American political organization the Black Panther Party and became a leading figure in the Black Power movement of the 1960s. Huey Percy Newton was born on February 17, 1942, in Monroe, Louisiana. Struggling with drug and alcohol addiction in his later years, he was killed in 1989 in Oakland. Newton faced several criminal charges over the years and at one point fled to Cuba before returning to the U.S. The organization was central to the Black Power movement, making headlines with its controversial rhetoric and militaristic style. Newton and Bobby Seale founded the left-wing Black Panther Party for Self Defense in Oakland, California. Newton was an African American activist best known for founding the militant Black Panther Party with Bobby Seale in 1966.
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