Previous to joining the Black Panther Party, Hewitt worked as a school teacher and had been a
Marxist activist, working with a group called United Front, a
socialist organization which also taught self-defence to its members in the form of
karate. Hewitt joined the Black Panther Party in 1967 and was given the title of Minister of Education. Hewitt was considered by the Panthers to have a strong understanding of political and
Marxist theory.
Target of COINTELPRO Hewitt was a target of
COINTELPRO, a controversial
FBI scheme intended to undermine radical organizations, which FBI Director
J. Edgar Hoover had specifically directed to destroy the Black Panther Party. In 1970, the FBI created the false story, from a San Francisco-based informant, that he impregnated married actress
Jean Seberg. Seberg was a supporter of the Black Panther Party, giving them a number of donations, and in the course of her interactions with the Panthers had befriended Hewitt. The story was reported by
gossip columnist Joyce Haber of the
Los Angeles Times, and was also printed by
Newsweek magazine. Seberg went into premature labor and, on August 23, 1970, gave birth to a baby girl. The child died two days later. She held a funeral in her hometown with an open casket that allowed reporters to see the infant's white skin, which disproved the rumors. Seberg and her husband later sued
Newsweek for libel and defamation, asking for US$200,000 in damages. She contended she became so upset after reading the story, that she went into premature labor, which resulted in the death of her daughter. A Paris court ordered
Newsweek to pay the couple US$10,800 in damages and ordered
Newsweek to print the judgment in their publication, plus eight other newspapers.
Departure from the BPP By January 1973, Hewitt had become critical of the ever-increasing domination of the Panthers by
Huey Newton. In a meeting of the Party's Central Committee, Hewitt suggested that the Central Committee by that point served only to confirm Newton's decisions: In return, Newton stripped Hewitt of his role as Minister of Education; within weeks Hewitt had left the party. Hewitt remained an activist for the rest of his life. He worked with the
Southern Christian Leadership Conference's Southern Africa Resource Center, the International Human Rights Coalition of Los Angeles, and the Philippine Support Committee. ==Personal life==