As part of COINTELPRO, the FBI sent forged letters to Black Nationalists to inflame tensions between the Panthers and US organisation.

He was briefly enlisted in the United States Navy before attending Lincoln University in Chester County, Pennsylvania, where he met his wife Ericka Huggins.

On January 17, 1969, Huggins and fellow Party leader Bunchy Carter were gunned down by Claude "Chuchessa" Hubert, a 21–year old member of the black nationalist US Organization during a meeting at UCLA.

"[5] Lary 'Watani' Stiner and his brother were accused and convicted of the murders of Huggins and Carter though neither of them fired a weapon.

[6] One consequence of Huggins' death was that it contributed to his cousin, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, leaving Swarthmore College.