Civil Rights History Project collection, 2010-2016 (Library of Congress Finding Aid)

Contents

Series 2: Interviews (continued)
	Ericka C. Huggins oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Oakland, California, June 30, 2016
		Digital content available
		Biographical History: Ericka Huggins was born Ericka Jenkins in 1948 in Washington, D.C. Huggins was the youngest of three. After graduating high school in 1966, she attended Cheyney State College and from there enrolled at Lincoln University, an HBCU in Philadelphia, where she met her husband, Vietnam veteran John Huggins. Both moved to California after reading about the Black Panther Party in Ramparts magazine, and joined the BPP in 1967. After her husband's assassination in 1969, she became a leader in the Los Angeles chapter and later led the Black Panther Party chapter in New Haven, CT. She was the Director of the Black Panther Party's Oakland Community School from 1973-1981. Huggins was a Professor of Sociology at Laney College in Oakland and at Berkeley City College. In addition, she has lectured at Stanford, Cornell, and UCLA. Huggins holds a master's degree in Sociology.
		Summary: Ericka Huggins discusses joining the Los Angeles Chapter of the Blank Panther Party in 1967. She shares her involvement with community survival programs such as the People's Free Medical Clinics and Breakfast Programs. Sharing how these programs were often undervalued and overlooked by the suspicions of the police and the FBI, she sheds considerable light on the turbulent experience of being a Panther woman. In spite of the assassination of her husband and being imprisoned multiple times on conspiracy charges, she emphasizes the importance of remaining resilient and committed to issues of racial injustice and remains active in civic organizations today.
		Moving Images
			13 video files (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (1:52:50) : digital, sound, color
			Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0144_mv01-13
		Manuscripts
			1 transcript (.pdf) : text file
			Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0144_ms01
	Elbert "Big Man" Howard oral history interview conducted by David P. Cline in Santa Rosa, California, June 30, 2016
		Digital content available
		Biographical History: Elbert "Big Man" Howard was born in Chattanooga, Tennessee in 1938. After serving four years in the military, he enrolled in Merritt College in Oakland, where he met Bobby Seale and Huey P. Newton. Together they founded the Black Panther Party. As one of the Party's early organizers, he played a key role in creating the Ten-Point Program, organizing defense committees and developing programs and opportunities for activism. After leaving the party in the 1970s, he returned to the South and worked in retail in various locations for several years. Eventually he returned to California where he wrote, lectured, and was a jazz disc jockey.
		Summary: Elbert "Big Man" Howard founded the Black Panther Party in Oakland with Huey P. Newton, Bobby Seale and others in 1965. Howard speaks of the Party's accomplishments in establishing the free community food programs, free medical clinics, and other service initiatives. He recounts the harassment by the FBI's COINTELPRO initiative, and recounts instances of everyday racist oppression by the state and local officials. Howard talks about the failed attempt by the Panthers to negotiate a peaceful resolution to the Attica Prison Uprising (NY) in 1971. Howard talks of his leaving the organization due to various pressures and internal conflicts that eventually led to the demise of the Party.
		Moving Images
			9 video files (Apple ProRes 422 HQ, QuickTime wrapper) (2:13:36) : digital, sound, color
			Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0145_mv01-09
		Manuscripts
			1 transcript (.pdf) : text file
			Digital ID: afc2010039_crhp0145_ms01

Civil Rights History Project collection, 2010-2016

Contents List