Stokely Carmichael’s Free Huey Gets Reissued

On the 55th anniversary of the founding of the Black Panther Party, the Motown Records’ Black Forum label has reissued Stokely Carmichael’s Free Huey. One of the most popular and influential leaders of the Black Power movement, Carmichael (who later adopted the name Kwame Ture) delivered the speech in February 1968 at the Oakland Auditorium in Oakland, CA. Thousands were gathered to celebrate the birthday of Huey P. Newton and call for his freedom, who was in a cell at a nearby courthouse, accused of the fatal shooting of a police officer. Tonight we have to talk about several things,” Carmichael began. “We’re here to celebrate brother Huey P. Newton’s birthday. We’re not here to celebrate it as Huey Newton the individual, but as Huey Newton part and parcel of black people wherever we are on the world today…And so, in talking about brother Huey Newton tonight, we have to talk about the struggle of black people, not only in the United States, but in the world today, and how he becomes part and parcel of that struggle, how we move on so that our people will survive America. Black Forum originally released Free Huey in 1970 – the year Newton’s conviction was reversed.

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