About Organizations
Black Panther Party
Black Liberation Army
American Indian Movement
FALN
Weather Underground
Earth Liberation Front
Animal Liberation Front
MOVE
Republic of New Afrika
Symbionese Liberation Army
Los Macheteros
United Freedom Front
May 19th Communist Organization
Young Lords
George Jackson Brigade
Students for a Democratic Society
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Industrial Workers of the World
Communist Party USA
Puerto Rican Nationalist Party
Brown Berets
Socialist Workers Party
African People's Socialist Party
Nation of Islam
About Black Panther Party
Founding of the Black Panther Party
Police Patrols in Oakland
Sacramento Capitol Protest
Huey Newton Arrest & the "Free Huey" Campaign
Killing of Bobby Hutton
Free Breakfast for Children Program
Bunchy Carter & John Huggins Killings
Panther 21 Arrests & Trial
New Haven Panther Trials
Fred Hampton & Mark Clark Raid
Oakland Community School
Elaine Brown Leadership Period
Decline & Dissolution
HUEY NEWTON ARREST & THE "FREE HUEY" CAMPAIGN
In the early hours of October 28, 1967, a traffic stop in Oakland ended in a shootout that left officer John Frey dead and Huey P. Newton wounded. Newton, the party's co-founder and Minister of Defense, was charged with murder and faced the gas chamber.
The "Free Huey" campaign that followed became a national rallying point for the party and the wider left. Mass rallies, the slogan "Free Huey," and coalitions with the Peace and Freedom Party turned Newton into a symbol of Black resistance to a racist justice system. He was convicted of voluntary manslaughter in 1968, but the conviction was overturned on appeal and, after two mistrials, he was freed in 1970.