
David Hilliard
A Founding Member and Former Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party
As chief of staff of the Black Panther party, David Hilliard was actively involved in every major activity of the best-recognized and most feared African American organization of the 1960’s and 70’s. The Panthers occupy a unique place in the Civil Rights movement. Their goal was to politically organize the inner city poor, the underclass,…
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Full Bio
As chief of staff of the Black Panther party, David Hilliard was actively involved in every major activity of the best-recognized and most feared African American organization of the 1960’s and 70’s.
The Panthers occupy a unique place in the Civil Rights movement. Their goal was to politically organize the inner city poor, the underclass, and the swollen numbers of those who now present such a profound challenge to American society.
Hilliard is author of the book “This Side of Glory,” a personal narrative and eyewitness account of the Black Panthers. He also co-authored “Huey, Spirit of the Panther,” the first authorized biography about Black Panther founder and leader Huey P. Newton.
By the early 1970s, the Black Panthers were a nationwide and global organization providing free food, medicine and legal services to the inner city poor. The Panthers, once labeled, “the greatest threat to the internal security of the United States” by FBI Director J. Edgar Hoover, began to dissolve as police raids, gun battles, IRS investigations, trials and prison terms decimated their ranks.
Since 1993, Hilliard has directed the activities of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, a grassroots community-based nonprofit organization committed to preserving and fostering Newton’s intellectual legacy. The foundation has collected Newton’s writings, covering the “Huey P. Newton Reader” and his early work, “To Die for the People,” in addition to reissuing Newton’s autobiography, “Revolutionary Suicide.”
Now an internationally recognized authority on Newton and the Black Panther Party, Hilliard taught at Merritt College, Laney College, New College and the University of New Mexico. He lectures frequently throughout the United States and was an adviser on the feature film “Panther” and on the Spike Lee-produced film “A Huey P. Newton Story.”
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Topics
A Conversation With David Hilliard
Videos
David Hilliard: History of the Black Panther Party
Books
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