workingclasshistory:

On this day, 17 February 1942, Huey P Newton, revolutionary and founding member of the revolutionary socialist Black Panther Party, was born in Monroe, Louisiana. The FBI and local police forces were determined to destroy the Panthers, and they murdered, framed and jailed many of its activists. Newton himself was shot by the police after being racially abused, and he was then jailed for killing a police officer in the ensuing shootout. But following a global campaign for his release, his conviction was overturned on appeal. He was tried twice more, but after the district attorney failed to get a conviction on either occasion he gave up and dismissed the charges.
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Learn more about the Panthers in these books by former members: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/black-panthers https://www.facebook.com/workingclasshistory/photos/a.296224173896073/1654120721439738/?type=3