LIL BOBBY HUTTON - BLACK PANTHER SPARK

Robert James Hutton, also known as "Lil' Bobby", was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party. Hutton packed a lifetime of activism into less than two decades. His untimely death became a rallying cry against police brutality. In December 1966, Hutton happened to meet Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, founders of the newly formed Black Panther Party for Self Defense, at the North Oakland Anti-Poverty Center, a government-funded agency that employed local youth to work on community service projects. Intrigued by their Ten-Point Program for racial justice and eager to make a difference in his community, Hutton became the Black Panther Party’s first recruit. At just sixteen years old, he was their youngest member, and he became their first treasurer. Hutton stated that he joined “The Party” because he wanted to make a difference in his community and that he believed in The Party’s Ten-Point Program. Bobby Hutton symbolized youth. He was the person that party members thought was going to carry forward the vision of the party. Hutton's death catapulted the Black Panthers from a local group to a national organization that eventually had several chapters throughout the United States. #LILBOBBYHUTTON #BLACKPANTHERPARTY #BOBBYHUTTON