[1][2] Timothy B. Tyson said, Negroes with Guns was "the single most important intellectual influence on Huey P. Newton, the founder of the Black Panther Party".

[6][7] Negroes with Guns was Williams' experience throughout the Civil Rights Movement of Monroe, North Carolina.

"[8] However, Williams claimed that black militants were not promoting violence, but were combating it, believing in self-defense and not aggression.

[9] The subject matter of the book was made into the documentary film Negroes with Guns: Rob Williams and Black Power, directed by Sandra Dickson and Churchill Roberts, released in 2004.

[13]: 263 Negroes with Guns influenced Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale in their founding of the Black Panther Party.