Biography
William Lee Brent, born in Franklin, LA, joined the Black Panther Party at age 38 in 1968 making him the oldest member to join at the time. He was a devoted member of the Party and rose to the rank of captain, serving as a bodyguard for Eldridge Cleaver. In November 1968, Brent and two other Panthers in a van marked "Black Panther Black Community News Service" allegedly robbed a gas station in San Francisco's Bayview district of $80. Police cornered the three men and engaged in a shootout; in the process, a police officer was critically wounded. Brent was arrested, and before the trial could begin, he decided to hijack TWA Flight 154 on June 17th, 1969, redirecting the flight to Cuba. After the plane landed in Havana, Bill Brent was let off, and the plane soon returned to the United States. No one was injured. Brent was jailed in Cuba for 22 months before getting released and spending the rest of his life there. He earned a Spanish literature degree from the University of Havana, and taught English at various junior and senior high schools. In 1996, he published his own memoir called Long Time Gone: A Black Panther’s True-Life Story of His Hijacking and Twenty-Five Years In Cuba. He died in Cuba on November 4th at the age of 75 from pneumonia.
