Huey P Newton and The Black Panther Party

baby face, light complexion, medium height, squeaky voice and his name "Huey", forced him to learn how to fight early on in life. Huey's remarkable quick wit and strength earned him the respect of his peers and the reputation of being a tough guy (Seale 40). Upon his enrollment at Merrit College Huey's academic achievements quickly began to surpass other students, while at the same time he was still able to relate to those he grew up with on the streets of Oakland. Autobiographer, Hugh Pearson in Shadow of the Panther reports that Huey "remained comfortable on the street corners with young Negro men who drank wine all day...and fought one another - young men whom most college-bound Negroes shied away from (Pearson 115). " Huey's ability and desire to develop his intellect and receive a college education while still identifying with his peers on the street played an influential role in his effective leadership in the Black Panther Party. Early in life Huey experienced regular hostility from local police. He recalled going to the movies as a child where the police would often force him out of the theatre and call him a "nigger". Huey reflected upon the mis-treatment in his book To Die for the People; "The police were very brutal to us even at that age" (Newton 53). Police harassment and physical abuse of Black people became part of every day life for many Blacks across the country. Although the Civil Rights movement was mainly a Southern phenomenon, the non-violent ideology and integrationist focus of the movement became according to historians Floyd W. Hayes and Francis A. C. Kiene as "sources of increasing frustration and disillusionment for many Blacks in Northern and Western cities (Hayes and Kiene 159) ." As the Civil Rights Movement approached the end of the 1960's northern Blacks became angered by the television coverage of police beatings, incarcerations of Southern non-violent Blacks, employment discrimination along with the po...

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Huey P Newton and The Black Panther Party. (1969, December 31). In MegaEssays.com. Retrieved 20:11, March 28, 2024, from https://www.megaessays.com/viewpaper/41266.html