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Ericka Huggins | |
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 Huggins in 2011 | |
| Born | Ericka Jenkins (1948-01-05)January 5, 1948 (age 77) Washington, D.C., U.S. |
| Education | Cheyney University Lincoln University (BA) California State University, East Bay (MA) |
| Occupation(s) | Activist, educator |
| Years active | 1967–present |
| Known for | New Haven Black Panther Trials |
| Political party | Black Panther Party |
| Spouse | |
| Partner(s) | James Mott (1971–1972) Lisbet Tellefsen (2006–present) |
| Children | 3 |
Ericka Huggins (néeJenkins;[1] born January 5, 1948)[2][3][4][5] is an American activist, writer, and educator. She is a former leading member of theBlack Panther Party (BPP). She was married to fellow BPP memberJohn Huggins in 1968.
Born Ericka Jenkins inWashington, D.C.,[6] Huggins was the middle child of three. After graduating high school in 1966, Huggins attendedCheyney State College, now Cheyney University of Pennsylvania. She then attendedLincoln University, anhistorically black school inPhiladelphia, Pennsylvania. There she studied education, and eventually met John Huggins, who she married in 1968. Although Lincoln University's Black Student Congress was opposed to female leaders, Huggins engaged in the group despite the opposition.[4]
She holds a Master of Arts in sociology fromCalifornia State University, East Bay. Her thesis focused on an education model which proposed "student-centered, community-based tuition-free education for students to minimize the multigenerational race and gender trauma of American".[7]
In 1972, she moved toCalifornia and became an elected member of theBerkeley Community Development Council.[8] In 1976, she was elected to theAlameda County Board of Education. She was the first Black person, and the first Black woman to have a seat on the Board.[7]
From 2008 to 2015, Huggins worked in thePeralta Community College District as a professor ofsociology,African American studies, andwomen's studies. She taught sociology at bothLaney College and atBerkeley City College, as well as women's studies atCalifornia State University.[7][9][10][11]
For more than 30 years, she has lectured atStanford University,Cornell University, andUniversity of California, Los Angeles where she has spoken about education, spirituality, feminism, prison reform, and queer people of color homelessness.[7][10]
In relation to her work with spirituality, Huggins did work for 15 years at the Siddha Yoga Prison Project where she ledhatha yoga and meditation to groups such as incarcerated people, public school children, and college students.[7] At the Mind/Body Medical Institute, which works withHarvard medical school, she continued sharing her spiritual practices for 5 years.[7]
While at Lincoln University, both Ericka and her husband were inspired to leave school and join the Black Panther Party.[12] Her motivation came from aRamparts magazine article she read that discussed the cruel treatment ofHuey P. Newton while incarcerated. A picture in the article depicted Newton shirtless, with a bullet wound in his stomach, strapped to a hospital gurney.[12] In 1967, the couple arrived inLos Angeles and joined the Black Panther Party.[12][13]
Eventually, her husband John Huggins, became leader of the Los Angeles Chapter of the Black Panther Party.[3][13][5] While at home with her three week old daughter, her husband was assassinated on January 17, 1969, on theUCLA campus[14] due to a feud between the Black Panther Party and aBlack Nationalist group,US Organization, that was fueled by theFBI'sCOINTELPRO program.[12][15] After his death, Ericka attended his burial in his birthplace ofNew Haven, Connecticut. Following his funeral, she decided to move there and open up a new Black Panther Party branch.[12] She led this new chapter along two other women,Kathleen Neal Cleaver andElaine Brown.
While involved with the Black Panthers, Huggins held several positions: both an editor and writer for theBlack Panther Intercommunal News Service, director of the party's Oakland Community School from 1973 to 1981, and a member of the party's Central Committee.[4] After spending two years in prison, Huggins decided to leave the Black Panthers, after being a member for 14 years, which is the longest membership for any woman involved with it.[7]
In 1969, members of the New Haven Black Panthers tortured and murderedAlex Rackley, whom they suspected of being an informant. Along with Black Panther Party co-founderBobby Seale, Huggins was charged with murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy.[16][17] Ericka Huggins was heard speaking on a tape recording of Rackley's interrogation that was played during the trial.[18] The trial sparked protests across the country about whether the Panthers would receive a fair trial. The jury selection was the longest in state history. In May 1971, the jury deadlocked 10 to 2 for Huggins' acquittal, and she was not retried.[19]
While awaiting trial from 1969 to 1972, Huggins spent her time writing in the Prison Niantic State Farm for Women. Writing about the poor social conditions herself and her community endured, she viewed storytelling as a form of self-defense, personal agency, and educational activism. Her work is defined by themes such as love and hate, time and space, sexism and feminism, spirituality, racism, and nationalism. After being released from prison and all charges being requited,Insights and Poems, a book of poetry, co-written by Huggins andHuey P. Newton, founder of the Black Panther Party, was released in 1975.[7]
Ericka Huggins marriedJohn Huggins in 1968.[13] Ericka gave birth to their daughter, Mai Huggins, at the age of 20.[20][21] Within three months of their daughter's birth, Ericka became a widow when John Huggins was killed on the UCLA campus in January 1969.
Huggins has two sons. One of her sons is Rasa Sun Mott,[20] whom she had with James Mott, lead singer of the Lumpen, the Black Panthers singing group.[22][23]
In 2007, Huggins stated in an interview thatHuey Newton repeatedly raped her and threatened that if she told anyone he would hurt her children.[24]
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