This member of the group that was the subject of the 1970 book "Black Power and the American Myth" died on December 19, 2008.
Black Power and the American Myth Black Power and the American Myth is a 1970 book by Reverend C. T. Vivian that analyzes the Civil Rights Movement. Before writing "Black Power and the American Myth", Vivian had been an activist, a member of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and a member of its Executive Staff along with Martin Luther King, Jr., Andrew Young, James Bevel and others. Besides King, Vivian was the first member of SCLC's staff to write a book about the Civil Rights Movement, and his access gave readers a first-hand account of the thoughts and motivations of the movement's leaders.
People v. Newton People v. Newton, 8 Cal. App. 3d 359 (Ct. App. 1970), was a controversial appeal arising from the voluntary manslaughter conviction of Huey P. Newton, the reputed co-founder of the Black Panther Party for Self Defense. The California Court of Appeal reversed Newton’s conviction due to prejudicial error stemming from the trial court’s failure to instruct the jury as to the possibility of involuntary unconsciousness as a complete defense to the charges. Though Newton’s attorney arguably withdrew the defense at trial, the Court nonetheless held that the failure to instruct violated Newton’s constitutional right to have the jury determine all material issues based on the evidence. This case stands for the proposition that trial courts have an affirmative duty to instruct juries as to a defense of involuntary unconsciousness where there exists evidence that may support that conclusion.