
The Seminary Co-op: Mary Frances Phillips – “Black Panther Woman” – Charlene A. Carruthers
March 28 @ 4:00 pm - 5:00 pm

The first biography of Ericka Huggins, a queer Black woman who brought spiritual self-care practices to the Black Panther Party.
Mary Frances Phillips will discussÌý.ÌýShe will be joined in conversation byÌýCharlene A. Carruthers. A Q&A and signing will follow this discussion.
At the Co-op.
Ìý(Please note your RSVP is requested but not required)
About the Book:
In this groundbreaking biography, Mary Frances Phillips immerses readers in the life and legacy of Ericka Huggins, a revered Black Panther Party member, as well as a mother, widow, educator, poet, and former political prisoner. In 1969, the police arrested Ericka Huggins along with Bobby Seale and fellow Black Panther Party members, who were accused of murdering Alex Rackley. This marked the beginning of her ordeal, as she became the subject of political persecution and a well-planned FBI COINTELPRO plot.
Drawing on never-before-seen archival sources, including prison records, unpublished letters, photographs, FBI records, and oral histories, Phillips foregrounds the paramount role of self-care and community care in Huggins’s political journey, shedding light on Ericka’s use of spiritual wellness practices she developed during her incarceration. In prison, Huggins was able to survive the repression and terror she faced while navigating motherhood through her unwavering commitment to spiritual practices. In showcasing this history, Phillips reveals the significance of spiritual wellness in the Black Panther Party and Black Power movement.
Transcending the traditional male-centric study of the Black Panther Party,ÌýBlack Panther WomanÌýoffers an innovative analysis of Black political life at the intersections of gender, motherhood, and mass incarceration. This book serves as an invaluable toolkit for contemporary activists, underscoring the power of radical acts of care as well as vital strategies to thrive in the world.
About the Author:
Mary Frances Phillips is a proud native of Detroit, Michigan. She is a historian, scholar-activist, public intellectual, and Associate Professor of African American Studies at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. Her interdisciplinary research agenda focuses on race and gender in post-1945 social movements and the carceral state. Her scholarly interests include the Modern Black Freedom Struggle, Black Feminism, and Black Power Studies.
Her book,ÌýBlack Panther Woman: The Political and Spiritual Life of ErickaÌýHuggins (2025, ÓÈÎïÊÓƵ’ Black Power Series), is both a critical study and biography of Black Panther Party veteran Ericka Huggins, one of the longest-serving women members of the organization. Her book historicizes women’s prison organizing, resistance, and collision with law enforcement of women political prisoners. Phillips has published journal articles in SOULS: A Critical Journal of Black Politics, Culture, and Society, the Women’s Studies Quarterly, the Western Journal of Black Studies, Spectrum: A Journal on Black Men, and the Syllabus Journal. Outside the academy, her essays have been featured in theÌýHuffington Post, Ms. Magazine’s blog, New Black Man (in Exile), Colorlines, Vibe Magazine, Black Youth Project, and the African American Intellectual History Society’s blog, Black Perspectives. Her work has garnered media attention in TIME Magazine, the New York Historical Museum & Library Women at the Center blog series, the Detroit Free Press,Ìýµþ°ù´Ç²Ô³æ±·±ð³ÙÌýCable Television, Bronx News 12, WBAI Pacifica Radio, New York City, and WNPR, Connecticut Public Radio.
Furthermore, Phillips research has been supported by the Black, Race, and Ethnic Studies Initiative Grant within the City University of New York, the Institute for Advanced Study at the University of Notre Dame, the American Association of University Women American Postdoctoral Research Leave Fellowship, the Center for Place, Culture, and Politics at the City University of New York Graduate Center, and the Faculty Fellowship Publication Program with the City University of New York. She earned a Ph.D. in African American and African Studies from Michigan State University, an M.A. in African American and African Studies from The Ohio State University, and her B.S. in Health Studies from Michigan State University.
About the Interlocutor:
Charlene A. Carruthers is a writer, filmmaker, community organizer, and Black Studies PhD Candidate at Northwestern University. A practitioner of telling more complete stories, her work interrogates Black governance, Black and Indigenous relationality, and Black feminist abolitionist geographies. She is an inaugural Marguerite Casey Presidential Freedom Scholar,Ìý University of Michigan Center for Racial Justice Fellow, and Northwestern University Presidential Fellow. Her work spans more than 15 years of community organizing across racial, gender and economic justice movements. Charlene wrote and directedÌýThe Funnel, a short film, which received the Queer Black Voices Award at the 35th Annual aGLIFF Prism Film Festival.
As the founding national director of BYP100 (Black Youth Project 100), she worked alongside young Black activists to build a national member-led organization dedicated to creating justice and freedom for all Black people.ÌýHer work has been covered in several publications including the New York Times, the Washington Post, Chicago Reader, The Nation, Ebony and Essence Magazines. She has appeared on CNN, Democracy Now!, BBC and MSNBC. The Chicago native has also written for theRoot.com, CRISIS Magazine, Teen Vogue, Truthout, Colorlines and the Boston Review. She is recognized as one of the top 10 most influential African Americans by The Root 100, one of Ebony Magazine’s “Woke 100,” an Emerging Power Player in Chicago Magazine and is the 2017 recipient of the YWCA’s Dr. Dorothy I. Height Award.
A committed educator, Charlene is also a highly sought after speaker at various institutions including Wellesley College, Shaw University, Princeton University, Northwestern University and her alma mater Illinois Wesleyan University.ÌýCharlene earned a Master of Social Work from the Brown School at Washington University in St. Louis, MO. She is author of the bestselling book,ÌýUnapologetic: A Black, Queer and Feminist Mandate for Radical Movements.
Chicago,ÌýILÌý60637