“. . . WHOLLY ORIGINAL AND ILLUMINATING.”
♀︎ Ms. Magazine: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
♀︎ Ms. Magazine: The Most Anticipated Feminist Books of 2025
The first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.
In this groundbreaking biography, Mary Frances Phillips immerses readers in the life and legacy of Ericka Huggins, a revered Black Panther Party member, as well as a mother, widow, educator, poet, and former political prisoner. In 1969, the police arrested Ericka Huggins along with Bobby Seale and fellow Black Panther Party members, who were accused of murdering Alex Rackley. This marked the beginning of her ordeal, as she became the subject of political persecution and a well-planned FBI COINTELPRO plot.
Drawing on never-before-seen archival sources, including prison records, unpublished letters, photographs, FBI records, and oral histories, Phillips foregrounds the paramount role of self-care and community care in Huggins’s political journey, shedding light on Ericka’s use of spiritual wellness practices she developed during her incarceration. In prison, Huggins was able to survive the repression and terror she faced while navigating motherhood through her unwavering commitment to spiritual practices. In showcasing this history, Phillips reveals the significance of spiritual wellness in the Black Panther Party and Black Power movement.
Transcending the traditional male-centric study of the Black Panther Party, Black Panther Woman offers an innovative analysis of Black political life at the intersections of gender, motherhood, and mass incarceration. This book serves as an invaluable toolkit for contemporary activists, underscoring the power of radical acts of care as well as vital strategies to thrive in the world.
BOOK EXCERPT:
How Ericka Huggins and the Black Panther Party Attempted to Liberate Black Women in America: Mary Phillips on John Huggins, Angela Y. Davis, and the Complex History of an Oft-Misunderstood Political Movement
PRAISE
“Activism grounded in love. Phillips enlarges the history of the Black Panthers by showing women’s experiences as integral to the group’s work. A revealing, well-researched biography.”
— Kirkus Reviews
“A distinctive, memorable story that powerfully shows what it takes to survive as a political prisoner in the U.S.”
— Library Journal, STARRED
“A remarkable story of awakening, commitment, grit, and fearlessness in the wake of personal pain, grassroots struggle, and state violence. This first-ever historical biography of Ericka Huggins is itself a meditation on the pertinence and power of spiritual wellness and encourages us to consider what a radically holistic movement for liberation might need. Wholly original and illuminating!”
— Rhonda Y. Williams, author of Concrete Demands: The Search for Black Power in the 20th Century
“Black Panther Woman enmeshes oral history, corroborating interviews, and critical documentary assessment to offer a truly textured analysis not only of one person’s life, but a demonstration of the virtue of patient rigor. Phillips sits still with Huggins in order to deepen the collective narrative of an already layered telling of the Black Panther Party. Her detailed review of Huggins’ life—before, during, and after imprisonment—identifies the joy that is possible through liberatory skill building in ways that resist the growth of dehumanizing institutions and carceral states. With words and records that are at once reflective and introspective, Phillips creates a stunning mosaic of Huggins and her time.”
— Stephanie Y. Evans, author of Black Women’s Yoga History: Memoirs of Inner Peace
“Both a memoir and an interpretive history of the Black Panther Party, Mary Frances Phillips gives us a tender rendering of Ericka Huggins's prison organizing and path to spiritual wellness. The cross-fertilization of radical resistance with care strategies captures a more nuanced portrait of the Black Panther Party.”
–Ula Y. Taylor, author of The Promise of Patriarchy: Women and the Nation of Islam
“This groundbreaking volume is more than the first book-length treatment of Ericka Huggins. Phillips’ most poignant contribution is focused on Huggins as a spiritual seeker and leader.”
— Ms. Magazine