born Feb. 17, 1942, Monroe, La., U.S.
died Aug. 22, 1989, Oakland, Calif.
U.S. African American activist.
Though illiterate when he graduated from high school, he taught himself to read before attending college. He met Bobby Seale (b. 1936) while attending the San Francisco School of Law, and in 1966 they formed the Black Panther Party . In 1974 Newton was accused of murder and fled to Cuba; on his return in 1977, he was freed after two trials ended in hung juries. In 1980 he received a doctorate in social philosophy from the University of California at Santa Cruz. In 1989 he was sentenced to six months in jail for misusing money intended for a Black Panther-founded school; later that year he was discovered shot dead on a street in Oakland, Calif.