David Hilliard: February 27, 1996
David Hilliard (born 1942) was one of the founding members of the Black Panther Party, the radical black power organization of the late 1960’s and the early 1970’s, and was eventually Chief of Staff in the Party. He was once considered by J. Edgar Hoover, the FBI's Director at the time, as "the greatest threat to the internal security of the country." Hilliard was born in Rockville, AL, and as part of the second wave of the Great Migration, he and his family moved to Oakland, California. Although Hilliard had not participated any notable political activity in his early teen years, in California he met Huey P. Newton, who became Hilliard’s comrade in the Black Panther Party.
In spring of 1967, when Hilliard was twenty-five years old, he started his activist career with the Black Panthers. Since he was assigned to a group working on self-defense, Hilliard worked on protecting Black citizens in Oakland from police harassment with firearms. He also worked with providing “breakfast program” and clinics for Black youths and prisoners. Those actions were not illegal in California, but the Party faced rising tension with police and the FBI, and received the attention of mass media. At the same time, Hilliard and the other of members of the Panthers have been critics of the American capitalist system and racial division while also being active for local Black communities.
On February 27th, 1996, our campus had David Hilliard as a guest speaker. Local papers reported that Hilliard was invited by several SUNY colleges. He was traveling across Upstate New York to give a speech about his autobiography, This Side of Glory: America and the Black Panther Party (1993), and also about his personal struggles within and without the Party. This tour was part of Black History Month.
Currently, Hilliard works as a living witness of the Black Panther Party, especially in the educational sphere. He is also a part of the Dr. Huey P. Newton Foundation, which was established to “preserve and promulgate the history, ideals and legacy of the Black Panther Party and its founder Huey P. Newton through development and distribution of education materials, establishment of educational conferences and forums, and maintenance and exhibition of historical archives.”
--Kentaro Wada ‘19