Huey Percy Newton (February 17, 1942 – August 22, 1989) was an African American revolutionary and political activist who founded the Black Panther Party.

Under Newton's leadership, the Black Panther Party founded over 60 community support programs[1] (renamed survival programs in 1971) including food banks, medical clinics, sickle cell anemia tests, prison busing for families of inmates, legal advice seminars, clothing banks, housing cooperatives, and their own ambulance service.

[9] In his autobiography Revolutionary Suicide, he wrote: During those long years in Oakland public schools, I did not have one teacher who taught me anything relevant to my own life or experience.

"[13] Newton continued his education, studying at San Francisco Law School, and the University of California at Santa Cruz, where he earned a bachelor's degree.

Newton learned about black history from Donald Warden (who later would change his name to Khalid Abdullah Tariq Al-Mansour), the leader of the AAA.

In his autobiography, Newton says of Warden, "The mass media, the oppressors, give him public exposure for only one reason: he will lead the people away from the truth of their situation.

"[15] In college, Newton read the works of Karl Marx, Vladimir Lenin, Frantz Fanon, Malcolm X, Mao Zedong, Émile Durkheim, and Che Guevara.

During his time at Merritt College, he met Bobby Seale, with whom he co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP) in October 1966.

They sometimes made news with a show of force, as they did when they entered the California Legislature fully armed in order to protest a gun bill aimed at disarming them.

[23][24] Newton would frequent pool halls, campuses, bars and other locations deep in the black community where people gathered in order to organize and recruit for the Panthers.

One of the reasons, he argued, why Black people continued to be persecuted was their lack of knowledge of the social institutions that could be made to work in their favor.

Eventually, the illicit activities of a few members would be superimposed on the social program work performed by the Panthers, and this mischaracterization would lose them some support in black communities and white.

The embezzlement charges were dropped six years later in March 1989, after Newton pleaded no contest to a single allegation of cashing a $15,000 state check for personal use.

Black Panther David Hilliard took Newton to Oakland's Kaiser Hospital, where he was admitted with a bullet wound to the abdomen.

[39] This alliance served the dual purpose of legitimizing Newton's cause while boosting the credibility of the party within the community of more radical activists.

Newton made the trip in late September 1971 with fellow Panthers, Elaine Brown and Robert Bay,[42] and stayed for 10 days.

[43] At every Chinese airport he landed in, Newton was greeted by thousands of people waving copies of the "Little Red Book" (officially titled Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-tung) and displaying signs that said, "We support the Black Panther Party, down with U.S. imperialism," or, "We support the American people but the Nixon imperialist regime must be overthrown.

[49] Newton's cousin, Stanley Clayton, was one of the few residents of Jonestown to escape the area before the 1978 mass murder of over 900 Temple members by Jones and his enforcers through forced suicide.

[49][need quotation to verify] By the 1970s, Newton had allegedly become increasingly paranoid, addicted to crack cocaine, and prone to violent behavior.

According to the prosecutor handling the case,[54] Newton is believed to have shot Smith after a casual exchange on the street during which she referred to him as "Baby,"[55] a childhood nickname he hated.

[56] The main witness of this case refused to testify due to an assassination attempt against her and, after two deadlocked jury trials, Newton was not convicted.

Newton, known for his status as a prominent figure in the Black Panther Party, reportedly became enraged over the cost and the perceived overcharging.

This event is often referenced in discussions of Newton's complex persona, which combined revolutionary ideals with a more flamboyant and sometimes violent personal side.

[60] In October 1977, three Black Panthers attempted to assassinate Crystal Gray, a key prosecution witness in Newton's upcoming trial who had been present the day of Kathleen Smith's murder.

[64] In November 1977, Malloy was found by park rangers paralyzed from the waist down from bullet wounds to the back in a shallow grave in the desert outside of Las Vegas.

Malloy recovered from the assault and told police that fellow Panthers Rollin Reid and Allen Lewis were behind his attempted murder.

[67] In 2007, party member Ericka Huggins stated in an interview that Newton repeatedly raped her and threatened that if she told anyone he would hurt her children.

[70] Robinson stated that his motive was to advance in the Black Guerrilla Family, a narcotics prison gang, in order to get a crack franchise.

[72] On February 17, 2021, in commemoration of the Black Panther Party the City of Oakland erected a bust of Huey Newton near the street corner where he was murdered.

[76] His doctoral dissertation titled War Against the Panthers: A Study of Repression in America "analyzes certain features of the Party and incidents that are significant in its development",[77][76] among which are how the United States federal government responded to the BPP as well as to the assassinations of Fred Hampton, Bunchy Carter, and John Huggins.