On October 28, 1967, Huey P. Newton, co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, was arrested after a traffic stop in West Oakland ended in gunfire. Oakland Police Officer John Frey was killed, another officer was wounded, and Newton himself was shot in the stomach before being taken into custody (Bloom & Martin, 2016, p. 69). Almost overnight, Newton’s case became the centerpiece of a national campaign. To his supporters, Newton was not simply facing a murder charge—he was a political prisoner, targeted for daring to demand an end to police brutality.

The Free Huey campaign began in Oakland but rapidly spread across the country. Members of the Black Panther Party used The Black Panther newspaper, rallies, and community networks to publicize Newton’s case, framing it as symbolic of the criminalization of Black resistance. The slogan “Free Huey!” appeared on buttons, posters, and murals, becoming a rallying cry for a generation of activists (Joseph, 2007, p. 162).

One of the most dramatic moments of the campaign came on February 17, 1968, Newton’s 26th birthday. Over 5,000 people filled the Oakland Auditorium for a rally in his honor. The event drew prominent figures of the Black freedom struggle, including Stokely Carmichael (Kwame Ture), H. Rap Brown, and James Forman. International voices such as French writer Jean Genet, as well as celebrities like Marlon Brando, lent support, linking Newton’s case to a global fight against colonialism and racism (Bloom & Martin, 2016, pp. 78–79).

The courtroom became another battleground. In September 1968, Newton was convicted of voluntary manslaughter and sentenced to 2–15 years in prison. His supporters denounced the verdict as a miscarriage of justice. The case went through years of appeals, and in May 1970 the California Court of Appeals overturned the conviction, ruling that the judge had failed to properly instruct the jury. Newton was released later that year (Bloom & Martin, 2016, p. 100).

By then, the campaign had already transformed the Panthers from a small Oakland-based group into a national movement with dozens of chapters. It also elevated Newton into an icon of radical resistance, while making the Party a prime target of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program (Churchill & Vander Wall, 2002). The Free Huey campaign not only helped secure Newton’s release but also demonstrated the power of mass mobilization around political prisoners, setting a precedent for later movements.

Even as the Panthers would later face fragmentation and state repression, the campaign remains one of the most important episodes of the Black Power era—a moment when a courtroom battle galvanized communities across the United States to demand freedom not just for Newton, but for all oppressed people.

Sources

• Bloom, J., & Martin, W. E. (2016). Black Against Empire: The History and Politics of the Black Panther Party. University of California Press.

• Joseph, P. E. (2007). Waiting ’Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America. Henry Holt.

• Churchill, W., & Vander Wall, J. V. (2002). Agents of Repression: The FBI’s Secret Wars Against the Black Panther Party and the American Indian Movement. South End Press.