Join us for a conversation with Ericka Huggins—human rights activist, Black Panther leader, educator, poet, and former political prisoner.
As a result of her fourteen-year tenure as a leading figure of the Black Panther Party (the longest of any woman in leadership), Huggins brings a unique and honest perspective to the challenges and successes of the Black Panther Party and its significance today. From 1973 to 1981, she served as the director of the Oakland Community School, a groundbreaking
community-run child development center and elementary school founded by the Black Panther Party. In 1976, Huggins became the first woman and the first Black person to be appointed to the Alameda County Board of Education. Huggins’s life of committed service also includes direct work with and program development on behalf of incarcerated youth and adults, LGBTQ youth with HIV/AIDS, children living in foster care, and teens who are pregnant or parenting.
In her new book Comrade Sisters: Women of the Black Panther Party, Huggins’s remarkable story joins those of the many women who formed the backbone of the Party. The conversation, moderated by Professor Mark Sanders, director of Notre Dame’s Initiative on Race and Resilience, will be followed by a reception and book signing with Huggins. Copies of Comrade Sisters will be available for purchase.
This event is held in conjunction with the current temporary installation Kevin Beasley—Chair of the Ministers of Defense. Huggins’s activism will provide a specific lens through which to explore themes Beasley probes in his installation.
This event is generously co-sponsored by:
Klau Institute for Civil & Human Rights
Center for Social Concerns
Department of Africana Studies
Department of American Studies
Department of Education, Schooling, and Society
Initiative on Race and Resilience
Transformational Leadership Program