Black Against Empire Case Study

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This paper will answer the topic of whether it is important or not to have a primary leader in a revolution? This paper will use the book, Black Against Empire by Joshua Bloom and Waldo Martin Jr. as the case study in determining my answer, along with other readings throughout the semester. This paper will incorporate the books Revolutions and Revolutionary Movements by James DeFronzo and The Black Jacobins by C.L.R. James. It is essential to have a primary leader in any revolutionary movement and its key asset for to guiding masses of people. It is extremely important for a revolution to have a primary leader. These figures give strength and capability to a revolution. These revolutionary leaders are looked to by all revolutionary members, …show more content…

That year Huey Newton the public “leader of the revolution” and the leader of the Black Panther Party was arrested. The arrest of Huey was pragmatic, it is unclear if his arrest was lawful or unlawful. Huey was pursued by an Officer Frey who was known to not be a “good cop” who would seek out blacks and bully them into an unlawful arrest. Frey was killed and Huey Newton was found in a hospital with a gunshot wound, as a result, he was arrested and incarcerated being the prime suspect in the murder. There was no clear evidence to pin the murder on Huey Newton and to confirm why he was arrested. Due to Huey’s Stature in the Black community and his importance to the revolution, his arrest created waves throughout the United States. Newton was sentenced to two to fifteen years in prison for voluntary manslaughter, but the verdict was reversed after two and a half years. Even while he was under custody and incarcerated in prison, Huey was the main figure of the black revolution. He became one of the main subjects for the Black Revolution to chant on while doing protest and marches. Revolutionaries began taking up the “Free Huey” chant for defaming the police and uniting the community to become strong and solve this problem of black men unlawfully arrested and convicted. Although having Huey locked up and not being able to be a public figure, his incarceration helped the Black Revolutionary Movement catapult forward to greater lengths. While in prison Newton still managed to lead the Black Panther Party in some forms and be a spokesperson for the revolution and to continually uniting