(RNS) — In “Black Panther Woman,” Mary Frances Phillips has written the first biography of Black Panther Party member Ericka Huggins, who is now 77 and living in California. The book, published by NYU Press, explores how Huggins’ spirituality influenced her activism, focusing on her time in prison, where she discovered yoga, meditation and other spiritual wellness practices.
In 1969, Huggins and other group members were arrested and sent to Niantic women’s prison in Connecticut in connection with the murder of Alex Rackley, who had been accused of being an FBI informant. Huggins’ voice could be heard on the audiotape of Rackley’s torture by other Black Panther Party members. A judge dismissed the case against her in 1971 after a trial resulted in a hung jury.
The idea to write this book came from Phillips’ desire to understand what happened to Huggins during these two years in prison. “I was fascinated with what happened behind those bars. What did she do? What did that Black Panther Party activism look like behind bars?” Phillips said in an interview with RNS.
In her own words, Huggins reached a state of “spiritual maturity” in prison, which informed all areas of her life.
“Her spiritual lens shapes all her experience,” Phillips said. “Ericka is not religious, per se, but she’s very much deeply spiritual.”
“Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins” by Mary Frances Phillips. (Courtesy image)
Divided into six chapters, “Black Panther Woman” revisits the milestones of Huggins’ life. It describes her childhood in Washington, D.C., and her upbringing in the Baptist church, where she first questions God, sin and her own spirit. It then explores foundational moments in her activism, such as her participation in the March on Washington in August 1963. It also describes her relationship with her partner and the father of her daughter, John Huggins, who led the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party.
The book draws on archives, private letters, drawings made in prison, poems written by Huggins, prison documents, court records and interviews with Huggins. Phillips, an Africana studies professor at the City University of New York’s Lehman College and a Black woman, noted how her background in Black feminist studies and her identity helped her create a trusting environment.
“There were moments where we got each other by saying very little because there’s a cultural understanding we both have,” she said.
One chapter, “Surviving Solitary,” describes Huggins’ wellness practices while in prison. Huggins taught herself yoga by reading a book offered by her lawyer, Charles Garry, who also practiced yoga. Huggins practiced hatha yoga, which focused on developing core strength, meditation and deep breathing.
Phillips spent 10 years researching this biography and dived into Huggins’ prison logs to track her yoga and meditation practice. The author also did yoga and meditation to understand its effects on the young Huggins during her time in prison.
Author Mary Frances Phillips. (Courtesy photo)
Huggins’ goal was to remain grounded and maintain her mental and physical health. It helped her appear strong when she met with her daughter Mai, who was only a few weeks old when Huggins was arrested. “She wanted to be fully present,” Phillips said. “She wanted to be well. She wanted to be fully engaged in that time that she had with her daughter.”
Phillips links Huggins’ interest in yoga and meditation to that of other civil rights and Black liberation activists, such as Rosa Parks and Angela Davis. The book connects Huggins’ practice to a larger cultural moment in the 1960s and 1970s, when wellness practices gained traction, which inspired many Black civil rights icons. The book also associates Huggins’ practice with a broader tradition of Black women’s wellness practices, quoting work from historian Stephanie Y. Evans, who wrote “Black Women’s Yoga History.”
Huggins’ other spiritual practices included writing poetry and letters and creating art. Her commitment to caring for other inmates, many of whom were pregnant while incarcerated, also counted as a spiritual practice, lifting their spirits and giving them dignity. For example, the women spent time redesigning each other’s prison uniforms.
The book also evokes Huggins’ bisexual identity and how the moment she started embracing her queerness was also pivotal in her search for spiritual meaning.
After her release, when she directed the Black Panther Party’s community school in Oakland, Huggins regularly invited yoga experts and introduced students to meditation. She also worked as a yoga teacher for 15 years as part of the Siddha Yoga Prison Project. Her spirituality and political engagement remained intertwined throughout her career with the Black Panther Party.
Huggins later joined the Shanti Project, where she worked to raise awareness about the HIV/AIDS epidemic among the queer community. She was also a lecturer in women and gender studies at San Francisco State University and California State University.
Phillips hopes “Black Panther Woman” will serve as a toolkit for contemporary Black liberation movements that want to incorporate spiritual practices into their activism. The author noted that spiritual wellness practices are central to many modern anti-racist organizations, such as Black Lives Matter.
In her foreword, activist Charlene A. Carruthers, author of “Unapologetic: A Black, Queer, and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements,” challenges readers to also strive for wellness. “Cultivating a Black liberation movement that values and centers the spirit,” she wrote, “is needed right now.”
