Archive Photos: The New Haven Eight Black Panther Trials
Posted Feb 22, 2012
By vwilliams
In May of 1969 Black Panther Alex Rackley, who had fallen under suspicion of informing for the FBI, was kidnapped and held captive at the New Haven Panther headquarters on Orchard Street. He was tortured and killed, his body washing up in the Coginchaug River. A number of Black Panthers were arrested for the murder including national party chairman Bobby Seale. Warren Kimbro, Lonnie McLucas, and national Panther “Field Marshal” George Sams, Jr. were the only three convicted of the murder. Sams and Kimbro confessed to the murder, and agreed to testify against McLucas.
McLucas’ jury selection in May of 1970 brought condemnation and protest to the Elm City on May Day weekend depicted here from the New Haven Register archives and Associated Press.
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U. S. Marshall William H. Terrill (left), co-defendants Landon R. Williams (center) and Rory B. Hithe. 6/5/69 Associated Press
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Warren Kimbro, confessed to the murder of Alex Rackley, and agreed to testify against McLucas in exchange for a reduction in sentence. Kimbro, is shown in this 1974 photo, is preparing to enter Harvard graduate school while on parole. Kimbro, before starting his studies, became executive director of "Perception House," a drug rehabilitation center in Willimantic, Conn. after his release from prison. (AP Photo/Robert Childs)
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Black Panther national chairman Bobby Seale and defense minister Huey Newton in San Francisco. Seale was charged in New Haven, Conn. with the kidnapping and slaying of a Black Panther party member there in May . 8/20/69 Associated Press
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Protesting the arrest of the New Haven Eight. 6/69 New Haven Register
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William Sloane Coffin Jr., Yale University Chaplin,stated, "All of us conspired to bring on this tragedy by law enforcement agencies by their illegal acts against the Panthers, and the rest of us by our immoral silence in front of these acts" . Here he reaches out to shake hands with supporters as he enters Federal Court in Boston, July 10, 1968 for sentencing in an antidraft conspiracy. Coffin, along with Dr. Benjamin Spock and two others, were convicted of conspiring to aid, abet and counsel young men to evade the draft. (AP Photo)
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Yale President Kingman Brewster Jr. issued the statement, "I personally want to say that I'm appalled and ashamed that things should have come to such a pass that I am skeptical of the ability of Black revolutionaries to achieve a fair trial anywhere in the U.S." Brewster's generally sympathetic tone enraged many of the University's older, more conservative alumni, heightening tensions within the school community and condemnation from then Vice President Spiro Agnew. Here he meets with Dr. King in 1964. New Haven Register
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YALE STUDENTS BACK BREWSTER: Petition supporting Yale President Kingman Brewster, who was criticized by Vice President Spiro Agnew, was presented by Yale students. They said 1,500 signatures were gatered in a 90-minute period. Brewster accepts petition from junior John Cole, '71. April 29, 1970 KirbyKennedy/Register
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Kurt Schmoke, a future Rhodes Scholar, mayor of Baltimore, MD and Dean of Howard University School of Law, eceived kudos as undergraduate spokesman to the faculty during some of the protest's tensest moments. 1994 photograph: The Associated Press
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Shown at a Black Panther conference today are, from left, Carol Smth, who identified herself as a sister of Margaret Hudgins and Frances Carter, two of the defendants in the murder conspiracy trial; a man identified only as "Big Man" and David Hilliard, national chief of staff of the Black Panther Party. 4/30/70 Art Dietle/Register
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Merchants board windows in preparation of weekend demonstrations. 4/30/70 Kirby Kennedy/New Haven Register
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Protesters on the Yale campus. 5/70 New Haven Register
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Early arrivals for Fridays Black Panther demonstration stroll about the New haven Green. 4/30/70 New Haven Register
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National guard helicopters arrived at a New Havennear the harbor May 1, 1970, before a rally to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. John Mongillo/ New Haven Register
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Members of the Connecticut National Guard arrived at a New Haven armory May 1, 1970, before a rally to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. Associated Press
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A guard and his dog are silhoutted atop the connecting bridge in the shopping area downtown. Boarded windows and light traffic were in evidence as the city awaited the start of a weekend of demonstrations. 5/1/70 Gene Gorlick/Register
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Early arrivals from Colorado unload their car near Old Campus. 5/1/70 Gene Gorlick/Register
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A great view of the crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Crowds begn to gather on the Central Green at noontime in preparation for start of the May Day rally. 5/1/1970 Gene Gorlick/Register
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Abbie Hoffman of the Chicago Seven is pictured as he addressed the Black Panther rally on May 1, 1970 in New Haven, Conn. (AP Photo)
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Famed author-physician Dr. Benjamin Spock was one of the more famous speakers at the May Day rallies here shown at his New York City home in July 1974. (AP Photo/Jerry Mosey)
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Rock singer entertains rally. 5/2/70 Joe Pettis/Register
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Gene Gorlick/Register - HIS OWN CRUSADE: It was essentially a rally in support of the Black Panthers, but other causes were represented, too. This man seems to be crusading for a universal vegetarian diet. 5/2/70
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Yale students serve refreshments to the crowd gathered to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register 5/70
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Part of a crowd gathered for the Black Panther Rally on the New Haven Green try on hard hats for possible protection. 5/1/70 New HavenRegister
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Black Panther rally New Haven Green. 5/70 New Haven Register
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Black Panther rally New Haven Green. 5/70 New Haven Register
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 1,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Black Panther supporters hold a rally in New Haven, Ct., May 1, 1970. (AP Photo)
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Abbie Hoffman of the Chicago Seven is pictured as he addressed the Black Panther rally. (AP Photo)
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City Hall across the street from the New Haven Green where several thousand persons were gathering for a Black Panther support rally. 5/70 New Haven Register
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New Haven policemen line up to drill for possible violence at City Hall across the street from the New Haven Green where several thousand persons were gathering for a Black Panther support rally
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New Haven policemen line up to drill for possible violence at City Hall across the street from the New Haven Green where several thousand persons were gathering for a Black Panther support rally. 5/70 Associated Press
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Tear gas is used to contain late night outbreak on Lower Green. 5/2/70 Kirby Kennedy/Register
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Tear gas is used to contain late night outbreak on Lower Green. 5/2/70 Kirby Kennedy/Register
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Tear gas is used to contain late night outbreak on Lower Green. 5/2/70 Kirby Kennedy/Register
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A protestor pushes away from tear gas as New Haven police broke up a disturbance on the Green. 5/2/70 Associated Press
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A protestor pushes away from tear gas as New Haven police broke up a disturbance on the Green. 5/2/70 Associated Press
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Group of young people wipe their eyes as they are driven back by tear gas when police confined them to Yale campus following rally in New Haven. 5/70 Associated Press
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First aid worker assists man hit by tear gas as police broke up demonstrations in New Haven. 5/2/70 Associated Press
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Demonstrator is taken away from the scene of a disturbance at the New Haven Green May 1, 1970. Police had to use tear gas to quell the disorder that followed the Black Panther Rally earlier in the day. Kirby Kennedy/ New Haven Register
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About midnight an explosion ripped the front entrance of Yale's Ingalls Rink at Prospect and Sachem Streets. 5/1/70 New Haven Register
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About midnight an explosion ripped the front entrance of Yale's Ingalls Rink at Prospect and Sachem Streets. 5/1/70 New Haven Register
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Register file photo - MAY DAY PART ONE: Atop light pole on the Green. 5/2/70
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OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 2,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Crowd gathered on the New Haven Green on May 2,1970 to protest the jailing of eight Black Panthers. New Haven Register
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Black Panther rally New Haven Green. 5/70 New Haven Register
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Black Panther rally New Haven Green. 5/70 New Haven Register
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Protestors gathered on the New Haven Green play leap frog to cut the tension after Friday nights distrubances. 5/2/70 New Haven Register
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Prior to the speaking program, nearly 1,500 engaged in hijinx or simply sunbathed. Here a group plays a ring-around game. 5/2/70 New Haven Register
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Black Panther Rally. 5/2/70 New Haven Register
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By Sunday - the exodus - as people headed home. 5/70 New Haven Register
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By Sunday - the exodus - as people headed home. 5/70 New Haven Register
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At a vigil on the New Haven Green Tuesday, Aug. 26, 1970 supporters raise their fists chant "Free Lonnie Mclucas". Mclucas, a Black Panther, is being tried in the courthouse directly behind and across the street from the speakers platform. He is charged in connection with the death of a fellow Panther last year. (AP Photo)
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Police drag and carry New Haven Panther Edith Jackson, 18, off to courthhouse after charging her with breach of peace and abusing a policeman during a rally supporting Panther defendant Lonnie McLucas Sunday, Aug. 30, 1970 in New Haven, Connecticut. At left, Pat Gallot, a girl who has worked with a Panther lawyer on the case, calls out "turn my sister loose". (AP Photo)
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Demonstrators respond to conviction of Black Panther Lonnie McLucas on a charge of conspiracy to muder with a protest march on Monday, Sept. 1, 1970 in New Haven, Connecticut. McLucas was found innocent of three other charges in connection with an alleged plot to kill a fellow Panther in May 1969. Seven other Panthers still await trial in the alleged plot. (AP Photo)
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Catherine Roraback, attorney for Black Panther Ericka Huggins who is on trial in New Haven, sits at her desk in her office Dec. 26, 1970 in New Haven. (AP Photo)
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An estimated 1400 people shown Saturday, March 13, 1971 in New Haven, chanted and parade their way to the New Haven Green area in downtown New Haven during a Black Panther rally calling for the freedom of Black Panthers coming for trial. (AP Photo)
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The trial of Black Panthers Ericka Huggins and Bobby Seale is almost over. The pair, on trial in New Haven, Connecticut, May 19, 1971, for the past six months, are charged with kidnapping resulting in death and aiding and abetting murder in connection with the slaying of fellow panther Alex Rackley. Judge Harold M. Mulvey said he would charge the jury. (AP Photo)
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Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale on his way in Montville, Connecticut on March 18, 1971 to the opening of his murder trial in New Haven. State police Sgt. George Potter escorted the Panther leader to the heavily guarded convoy car. (AP Photo)
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Bobby G. Seale, left, National Chairman of the Black Panther Party, is escorted from the Montville state prison in Montville on Thursday, May 20, 1971, for the trip to New Haven, Connecticut. A Superior Court jury in New Haven began deliberations on Wednesday in the trial of Seale and Black Panther Ericka Huggins, charged in connection with a 1969 Panther slaying. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Supporters of Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins march past courthouse where jury is deliberating in the two Panthers' murder-kidnap trial on Wednesday, May 20, 1971 in New Haven, Connecticut. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Antiwar movement leader Dave Dellinger gives a clenched-fist show of support for Black Panthers Bobby Seale and Ericka Huggins as he marches, in a line of demonstrators, past the courthouse where a jury is delibarating in the Seale-Huggins murder-kidnap trial, May 20, 1971, in New Haven. (AP Photo)
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Charles R. Garry, left, attorney for Black Panther chairman Bobby Seale, talks to (from left) Black Panthers Elbert Howard, John Seale and Malik Edwards in New Haven, Connecticut, May 22, 1971. John is Bobby's brother. They await a verdict in Bobby's murder-kidnap trial with Ericka Huggins, a Panther. Superior Court where jury is deliberating stands behind them. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Ericka Huggins leaves courthouse Saturday, May 22, 1971 after fourth day of jury deliberations in trial of herself and Bobby Seale. Seale, who is national chairman of the Black Panters. Both are on trial on capital charges in the slaying two years ago of another Panther, Alex Rackley. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Lawyer Charles R. Garry, defense attorney for Black Panther Bobby Seale, stands on his head in a relaxation exercise he says he learned while studying yoga, as the jury deliberates - so far without a verdict - inside the nearby courthouse in New Haven, Conn., May 23, 1971. An unidentified boy looks on. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Black Panther Ericka Huggins smiles at a photographer across the street as she arrives on Sunday, May 23, 1971 at Superior Court in New Haven, Connecticut for the fifth day of jury deliberation on murder-kidnap charges against Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale and Mrs. Huggins, a New Haven Panther leader. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff
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Catherine G. Roraback a New Haven attorney who is Defending Black Panther Ericka Huggins in her kidnap-murder trial May 24,1971 in New Haven. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Spectators awaiting a verdict in the kidnap-murder trial of Black Panthers Bobby Seale and Ericka Hugins emerge from courthouse in New Haven, Connecticut on May 23, 1971 after jury ended another day of deliberations without a verdict. A number of young sympathizers with Seale and Mrs. Huggins have been awaiting a verdict since jury got case on Wednesday. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Ericka Huggins in shawl gets hug from supporter after she was freed after two years imprisonment following a judge 's decision to drop Kidnap- murder charges against her on May 26, 1971.(AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Ericka Huggins free from jail for the first time in two years on murder and kidnap charges on May 25, 1971. Case dismissed against them after a six-month trial. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Ericka Huggins free from jail for the first time in two years on murder and kidnap charges on May 25, 1971. Case dismissed against them after a six-month trial. (AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Ericka Huggins free from Jail for the first time in two years joins her attorney Catherine Toraback in a grin Tuesday, May 25, 1971. Murder and kidnap charges were dismissed against Mrs. Huggins and Black Panther chairman Bobby Scale.(AP Photo/Dave Pickoff)
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Black Panther Chairman Bobby G. Seale, holding attache case aloft as he clenches his handcuffed fists, is taken back to jail in New Haven, Conn., May 26, 1971. A judge dismissed capital charges against Seale in connection with the slaying of another Panther member. Seale still faces contempt of court citations resulting from Chicago 8 trial. (AP Photo)
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Black Panther Chairman Bobby Seale, free Friday after 21 months in prison, is surrounded by supporters as he leaves the U.S. Marshal’s office, May 28, 1971 in New Haven, Connecticut. Seale left for New York’s Kennedy Airport and a flight to San Francisco just after he was released on bond. (AP Photo)
[...] is tapping into the newspaper’s photo archives to produce some amazing galleries such as this one on the history of the Black Panthers and “the New Haven [...]