Huey Newton, Black Panther Minister of Defense

This image of Huey P. Newton, co-founder of and Minister of Defense for the Black Panther Party, was composted in May 1967 by Eldridge Cleaver as a publicity tool to raise awareness of the Party. After Newton was accused of murdering a police officer during a traffic stop in October 1967, the image appeared on the cover of The Black Panther newspaper, becoming a prominent symbol of the Free Huey campaign. Over the next three years, through Newton’s conviction and eventual release in 1970, it circulated widely as tens of thousands joinedFree Huey rallies around the world. The campaign also elevated the Black Panther Party’s visibility and established Newton as its central icon.

Seated in a peacock chair, Newton is flanked by two Zulu-style shields. The chair serves as a striking example of colonial reach, having gained Western prominence during the American colonization of the Philippines, where it was produced for export by incarcerated laborers at Bilibid Prison. Newton’s direct gaze and authoritative posture evoke European portrayals of classical mythology and monarchs, subverting the chair’s colonial associations and transforming it into an emblem of Black Power. The Zulu shields reinforce this subversion, casting Newton as a "shield for black people" and linking him to Southern African warrior traditions.

A poster of Huey Newton sitting in a rattan throne chair wearing a beret and a black leather jacket while holding a shotgun in his right hand and a spear in his left hand. Leaning against the wall on either side of the chair is a leaf-shaped, Zulu style shield with designs of horizontal line markings across the front. Beneath the chair is a zebra print rug. Along the bottom of the print is the text [The racist dog policemen must withdraw immediately from our communities, cease their wanton murder and brutality and torture of black people, or face the wrath of the armed people]. The poster is lined with a sheet of linen backed paper.