Dr. Huey P. Newton

Dr. Huey P. Newton, born February 17, 1942, and died August 22, 1989, co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense in 1966. It began as a grassroots organization that sent legally armed patrols of party members to observe police misconduct and inform people being arrested of their rights. The organization quickly evolved into an international movement that served the minds, bodies, and souls of the Black community and became one of the most influential revolutionary movements of the twentieth century. Its chapters organized and ran essential Survival Programs as a full expression of the party’s 10-Point Program, including The Free Breakfast for Schoolchildren Program, The People's Free Medical Health Clinics, The Sickle-Cell Anemia Testing and Research Program, and The Oakland Community School, serving communities in Oakland and across the nation. Newton was the chief theoretician and Minister of Defense of the Black Panther Party, and his writings and teachings present him as one of the most important political thinkers and practitioners in the ongoing struggle for the freedom and equality of all Black and oppressed people. His ideas were and remain revolutionary, provoking constant efforts by government, police, and intelligence agencies to discredit and destroy him and the legacy of the Black Panther Party.

Oakland, California · United States