ABOUT EDDIE

Black Panther | Political Prisoner | Revolutionary Ancestor

Eddie Conway was a former member of the Black Panther Party Baltimore chapter. Wrongfully convicted of murder in 1970, he served nearly forty four years in the Maryland prison system. During his incarceration, he played a leading role in a variety of prisoner support initiatives including, a Prisoner’s Labor Union, the   ACLU’s  class action lawsuit that reduced the prison population by 700 beds,  he implemented  dozens of  educational  programs that connected  prisoners with the outside  communities and Co-founded  the AFSC- Friend of a Friend program, a mentoring project that helped prisoners survive incarceration. 

Conway earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from Coppin State University and did graduate studies at California State University-Dominguez Hills. While in prison, Conway authored two books, The Greatest Threat, The Black Panther Party and COINTELPRO (iAMWE 2009) and Marshall Law, The Life and Times of a Baltimore Black Panther (AK Press, 2011). He guest lectured at universities and colleges across the nation, speaking on prison issues, the history of the Black Panther Party, and community organizing. In addition, he was a co-founder of Tubman House, which continues the survival programs developed by the Black Panther Party to build stronger communities. Since his release in 2014, Conway has appeared on television and radio programs in the US and South America, and was an executive producer for The Real News Network.