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From the Bottom of the Heap: The Autobiography of Black Panther Robert Hillary King
In 1970, a jury convicted Robert Hillary King of a crime he did not commit and sentenced him to 35 years in prison. He became a member of the Black Panther Party while in Angola State Penitentiary, successfully organizing prisoners to improve conditions. In return, prison authorities beat him, starved him, and gave him life without parole after framing him for a second cri
...more
Hardcover
,
224 pages
Published
October 1st 2008
by PM Press
(first published January 1st 2008)
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Community Reviews
(showing
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Although the book description makes you think this is going to be a prison memoir by a Panther, most of it is about a hard-scrabble childhood in Louisiana. Poverty, incarceration, violence are all around King from his birth but a precocious spirit and a burning intelligence keep him from going under. Eventually, the little arrests and hassles that a poor white kid would have been spared begin to pile up until the "justice" system seems to take the attitude "if he isn't guilty of this, he's guilt
...more
King is best known, along with Herman Wallace and Albert Woodfox, as one of the Angola Three, leaders of a Black Panther Party chapter in Louisiana's Angola Prison who served extensive portions (in the case of Wallace and Woodfox, 36 years) of their sentences in solitary confinement. Since his release, King has campaigned endlessly in support of the release of Wallace and Woodfox. He has also spoken out about the flaws in the criminal justice system, the reality of Southern racism that enjoys of
...more
Jan 31, 2015
Spicy T AKA Mr. Tea
rated it
4 of 5 stars
Shelves:
history
,
police-abuse
,
prison-industrial-complex
,
prisoners
,
auto-biographical
,
black-liberation
I enjoyed Robert's book. Like the few other prisoner autobiographies I've read, he's pretty much to the point. He talks about growing up poor and black in Louisiana which lead to his eventual capture and imprisonment for crimes he didn't commit. Robert and 2 others (the Angola 3--Albert Woodfox and Herman Wallace) formed a chapter of the Black Panther Party while incarcerated--the first of its kind demanding dignity, human rights, and an end to brutality behind bars. For his part in the work, he
...more
Jan 06, 2010
HeavyReader
rated it
3 of 5 stars
Recommended to HeavyReader by:
Bracken
Shelves:
life-stories
,
prison
This book is Robert Hillary King's life story.
King is one of the Angola 3, held in solitary confinement in Louisiana's Angola prison for 29 years. King is finally free and lives in Austin, TX.
King tells the story of his life, from his impoverished childhood in rural Louisiana and New Orleans, his time as a teenager in the juvenile detention center, his marriage and the birth and death of his beloved son, to his time in Angola.
He tells his story in a casual voice, so the reader feels almost as if ...more
King is one of the Angola 3, held in solitary confinement in Louisiana's Angola prison for 29 years. King is finally free and lives in Austin, TX.
King tells the story of his life, from his impoverished childhood in rural Louisiana and New Orleans, his time as a teenager in the juvenile detention center, his marriage and the birth and death of his beloved son, to his time in Angola.
He tells his story in a casual voice, so the reader feels almost as if ...more
In 1970 Robert Hillary was convicted of a crime he did not commit sentenced to Angola prison. There he became a member of the Black Panthers and successfully organized to improve prison conditions. In return he spent 29 years in solitary confinement.
...That sounds like a really interesting biography, right? Then why was this very short book so tedious to get through. The biggest reason I think I wasn't a huge fan of this book is because 80% of it deals with Hillary's childhood and then at the v ...more
...That sounds like a really interesting biography, right? Then why was this very short book so tedious to get through. The biggest reason I think I wasn't a huge fan of this book is because 80% of it deals with Hillary's childhood and then at the v ...more
Anyone interested in this excellent book should be sure to read the new paperback printing (with the blue cover; on GoodReads here:
http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/13...
).
It's been expanded, updated, and improved considerably, adding entire new sections of writings by and about King. An insightful and inspiring memoir gets an even better treatment.
It's been expanded, updated, and improved considerably, adding entire new sections of writings by and about King. An insightful and inspiring memoir gets an even better treatment.
Feb 24, 2013
Joseph Lapp
rated it
5 of 5 stars
·
review of another edition
Shelves:
non-fiction
,
political
This book was great. Autobiographical accounts from political prisoners always fascinate and inspire me. King's clear writing and deep understanding of the systemic race and class issues that lead to so many young black men being imprisoned is invaluable.
This is my friend, King's incredible autobiography. He is one of the Angola 3 political prisioners, now freed.
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