The Feminist Leadership of Ericka Huggins in the Black Panther Party

Born on January 5, 1948, in Washington, D.C., Ericka Huggins was an important figure in the Black Panther Party (BPP) as well as a key Black Power era activist. A high-ranking member of the BPP, she served on the organization’s Central Committee. As a writer, poet, educator, former editor of the Black Panther and Director of the Oakland Community School, Huggins was vital to the BPP as an organizer and intellectual. This essay provides an in-depth analysis of Huggins’s feminist theory, her work as a revolutionary educator, and the impact of her incarceration on the BPP as a member of the New Haven 14. I argue that Huggins’s experiences serve as an example of progressive gender politics in the BPP. Until recently Black women’s activism has been largely neglected in BPP scholarship and this work contributes to the emerging scholarship on Black women in the most widely known organization of the Black Power Movement. This essay differs from previous interpretations on Ericka Huggins and the BPP by showcasing her voice on the intersections of Black Power and Black feminist politics in the BPP.