Huey P. Newton, a leading proponent of African-American militancy in the 1960s and a co-founder of the radical Black Panther Party for Self Defense, was shot three times in the head and killed early this morning in a West Oakland neighborhood plagued by violence and crack cocaine.
What inspired Huey P. Newton?
Influenced by the ideologies, perspectives, and the assassination of Malcolm X (an American Muslim minister and human rights activist), in 1966 by Huey Newton, his college classmate Bobby Seale, and his childhood friend David Hilgard founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defence.
Was Huey P. Newton a criminal?
Newton faced a number of criminal charges over the years and at one point fled to Cuba before returning to the U.S. and earning his doctorate. Struggling with drug and alcohol addiction in his later years, he was killed in 1989 in Oakland.
Is Kathleen Cleaver white?
She is a Black educator, lawyer, writer, and activist. Born in Dallas Texas, Kathleen Neal Cleaver’s father was a sociology professor at Wiley College and her mother held a degree in Mathematics. With her father’s work, the family spent many of her early years abroad in Liberia, the Philippines, and Sierra Leone.
How did Eldridge Cleaver impact the civil rights movement?
Joining the Black Panthers
In 1967, Cleaver joined the Black Panther Party as its minister of information. He became the voice of the activist group, coming up with attention-getting slogans and editing its newspaper.
