GREATER HOUSTON AREA
HISTORY
FEBRUARY 23, 2020
AFRAMNEWS.COM 5
BLACK HISTORY MONTH HIGHLIGHT
Photo courtesy of Institute of the Black World
HUEY P. NEWTON AND THE BLACK PANTHER PARTY
The Party, in which Newton said was greatly influenced by Malcolm X, achieved national and international fame through their deep involvement in the Black Power movement and the politics of the 1960s and 1970s. By AANI Staff Writer
In the month of what would have been his 78th birthday, we recognize the life and work of Huey Percy Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party. Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was born in Monroe, Louisiana during World War II, and was the youngest of seven children. His parents named him after Huey Long, former Governor of Louisiana. The Newton family migrated to Oakland, California as part of the second wave of the Great Migration of African-Americans out of the South. The family was close-knit, but quite poor, and moved often within the San Francisco Bay Area during Newton’s childhood. Despite this, Newton said he never went without food and shelter as a child. As a teenager, he was arrested several times for criminal offenses, including gun possession and vandalism at age 14. Growing up in Oakland, Newton stated that he was “made to feel ashamed of being Black.” Newton graduated from high school in 1959 without being able to read, but later taught himself and went on to attend Merritt College, where he earned an Associate of Arts degree in 1966. He later earned a Ph.D. in social philosophy from the University of California, Santa Cruz’s History of Consciousness program in 1980. After Newton taught himself to read, he started questioning everything involving the community, which led to his involvement in the civil rights movement. Newton and Bobby Seale formed the Black Panther Party in October 1966. The Party, in which Newton said was greatly influenced by Malcolm X, achieved national and international fame through their deep involvement in the Black Power Movement and the politics of the 1960s and 1970s. NEWTON cont’d on page 11
CELEBRATES
BLACK HISTORY MONTH February 2020 LoneStar.edu/BlackHistory
