After a year of moving between foster homes, the twins petitioned to attend an all-Black boarding school in Mississippi, where their independence was contingent on high achievement.
“I was always yearning to understand what it would look like to have a family,” Sampson said.
“I wanted to write a story where Huey P. Newton walks into a bar and changes the lives of the people there forever,” Sampson said of the Black Panther Party co-founder.
She got the idea for the play, a blend of historical fiction and sitcom conventions, when she learned that Newton’s rise to prominence began with an unsolved mystery.
Rallies to “Free Huey” helped set off the Black Power movement.
Persons:
orphanhood, Sampson, ”, “ I’m, “, ” Sampson, Huey, Newton, Newton, Huey ”
Organizations:
“, Black Panther Party
Locations:
Mississippi, Los Angeles, “, Oakland, Calif