Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins

Phillips’s (Africana studies, Lehman Coll.) biography combines oral interviews, archival material, and other works about Black Panther Party (BPP) members to create a fascinating read. Her book focuses on Ericka Huggins, who was reared in Washington, DC, during the pre–civil rights era. At age 15, Huggins attended the 1963 March on Washington by herself, which became the catalyst of her lifelong journey as an activist. At age 21, she became the founder of the New Haven, CT, BPP chapter. While there, she successfully started a breakfast program and a health clinic for the Black community in the area. But Huggins’s involvement in the BPP brought attention to herself and family; Phillips shows that Huggins’s husband was murdered as part of an FBI counterintelligence program, known as COINTELPRO, that targeted political activists. Soon after that, Huggins, a new mother, was accused of involvement in the murder of another BPP member. Throughout it all, she managed to focus on survival, self-care, and spiritual wellness.