biography
Ericka’s political activism began in 1963, when she attended the March on Washington and committed to moving from the sidelines to the frontlines in the global human rights movement. In 1969, at age 18, she became a leader in the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party with her husband John Huggins. Three weeks after the birth of their daughter Mai, Ericka became a widow at age 19, when her husband John Huggins, along with Alprentice “Bunchy” Carter, was gunned down on the U.C.L.A campus. Ericka brought her husband’s body to New Haven, Connecticut for burial, and stayed on to open a new Black Panther Party chapter.
Ericka with daughter Mai.