Ericka Huggins

Ericka Huggins
Huggins in 2015.
Born	Ericka Jenkins (1948-01-05) January 5, 1948 (age 69) Washington, D.C. U.S.
Nationality	American
Education	Lincoln University
Occupation	Activist, educator
Years active	Since 1967
Known for	New Haven Black Panther Trials
Political party	Black Panther Party
Spouse(s)	John Huggins (m. 1967–69)
Partner(s)	James Mott (1971–72)
Children	3

Ericka Huggins (née Jenkins; born January 5, 1948) is an American activist and educator. Huggins is a former leading member of the Black Panther Party.

Born Ericka Jenkins in Washington, D.C., Huggins was the youngest of three. After graduating high school in 1966, Huggins attended Cheyney State College. Huggins began her collegiate years at Lincoln University where she met her husband, Vietnam veteran John Huggins. Huggins holds a master's degree in Sociology. In 1972, she moved to California and became an elected member of the Berkeley Community Development Council. She was the Director of the Black Panther Party's Oakland Community School from 1973-1981. Huggins is a Professor of Sociology at Laney College in Oakland and at Berkeley City College. In addition, she has lectured at Stanford, Cornell, and UCLA.

After joining the party in 1967, Ericka Huggins became a leader in the Los Angeles chapter and later led the Black Panther Party chapter in New Haven, Connecticut along with two other women, Kathleen Neal Cleaver and Elaine Brown. As a result of a feud between the Black Panther Party and a rival black nationalist group US Organization, fueled by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, her husband John Huggins was shot to death on January 17, 1969 in Campbell Hall on the UCLA campus. She attended the burial of her husband in his birthplace of New Haven.