Author Event! Mary Phillips' "Black Panther Woman"

Join us on March 13th at 6pm as we host Dr. Mary Phillips, who will be discussing her book "Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins" with Dr. Alyssa Lopez.

About the book:

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Drawing on never-before-seen archival sources, including Pr*son records, unpublished letters, photographs, FBI records, and oral histories, Phillips foregrounds the paramount role of self-care and community care in Huggins’s political journey,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 Pr*son, 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.

About the author:

Mary Frances Phillips is a historian, scholar-activist, public intellectual, and Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her interdisciplinary research agenda focuses on race and gender in post-1945 social movements and the carceral state. Her scholarly interests include the Modern Black Freedom Struggle, Black Feminism, and Black Power Studies.

Her book, Black Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of Ericka Huggins (2025, NYU Press’ Black Power Series), is both a critical study and biography of Black Panther Party veteran Ericka Huggins, one of the longest-serving women members of the organization. Her book historicizes women’s Pr*son organizing, resistance, and collision with law enforcement of women political prisoners. Phillips has published journal articles in SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, the Women’s Studies Quarterly, the Western Journal of Black Studies, Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, and the Syllabus Journal. Outside the academy, her essays have been featured in the Huffington Post, Ms. Magazine's blog, New Black Man (in Exile), Colorlines, Vibe Magazine, Black Youth Project, and the African American Intellectual History Society’s blog, Black Perspectives. Her work has garnered media attention in TIME Magazine, the New York Historical Museum & Library Women at the Center blog series, the Detroit Free Press, BronxNet Cable Television, Bronx News 12, WBAI Pacifica Radio, New York City, and WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio.

Furthermore, Phillips research has been supported by the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative (BRESI) Grant within the City University of New York, the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Notre Dame, the American Association of University Women American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and the Faculty Fellowship Publication Program with the City University of New York.

Host or Publisher Symposium Books Staff