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RIP Hugh Pearson

A few weeks back on this blog we mentioned a guy who jumped from the 10th fHughloor stairwell and richocheted off of the rails and lived.  Well we were wrong about who it was.    While having drinks with a former resident Friday night, she recalled that the guy who jumped but lived had written a book about his namesake, Black Panter party leader Huey P. Newton.  Hugh Pearson, who had the guts to publish a warts and all biography of Newton, subsequently found himself excoriated by some members of both the black community and liberals and embraced by conservatives.  Sadly, Hugh was found dead, apparently a suicide, in his Brooklyn apartment only a few months ago. (Photo: The Villager)

Still no details on the guy who claimed to have jumped from the roof and lived in 1981.

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6 responses to “RIP Hugh Pearson”

  1. bluehour Avatar
    bluehour

    This a good tribute to Hugh, guys.
    And might I add this blog is one of the best written and most interesting out there? Keep up the great work. I check it twice daily!

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  2. Nancy Ross Avatar
    Nancy Ross

    I think Hugh jumped off the 4th floor stairwell. At least that is what he told me.

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  3. bluehour Avatar
    bluehour

    I visited him at St. Vincent’s when he was recovering from the jump, and he told me the 10th, that he had just started climbing the stairs, driven, and didn’t stop until he got to the top.
    The official story at the hotel was that he “fell.”

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  4. Nancy Ross Avatar
    Nancy Ross

    Thanks for that information.

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  5. Karen Avatar
    Karen

    hugh pearson, writer,
    living on and dying twice
    an iconoclast

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  6. sandy lazzar Avatar
    sandy lazzar

    no humor in death….
    what he could not live down or get around no one will ever really know.
    Stories come and go but we are not he and that is the way it ends.
    Ironically, his book on the Black Panther Party also tried to access the innerds
    of an organization too complex and yet demonized by the system (government).
    Hugh Pearson was attempting to understand a past he could not completely understand. His conclusions were rushed and not critical and sadly they left a hole
    in the story.
    One might add these notes as an example of being almost there but not quite.
    In the end some truths are told and some are not. The Black Panther Party’s story
    has been told and retold many times. Some to sensationalize, demonize and others to clear the smoke and make it plain.

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