Convocation: David Hilliard

David Hilliard, a founding member and Chief of Staff of the Black Panther Party, is an incomparable authority on the life, legacy, and intellectual history of Black Panther leader Huey P. Newton. In delivering his convocation address, "This Side of Glory: The Story of the Black Panther Party," Hilliard told the crowd at Skinner Memorial Chapel that young people in the 1960s were attracted to the Black Panther Party, not because of the military bravado, but because of the deeper community service initiatives the party modeled. “We were not terrorists or crazy militants,” Hilliard said in his convocation address. “I can testify to our movement; the community loved us because we were public servants.”