Expanded and updated with new photographs and stories, this autobiography
of one of the Angola Three traces the life of Robert Hillary King from his
early days in Louisiana, through a troubled adolescence, a conviction that
kept him behind bars for decades, his relationship with the Black Panther
Party, and his eventual release from prison. In 1970, a jury convicted
Robert Hillary King of a crime he did not commit and sentenced him to 35
years in prison. He became a member of the Black Panther Party while in
Angola State Penitentiary, successfully organizing prisoners to improve
conditions. In return, prison authorities beat him, starved him, and gave
him life without parole after framing him for a second crime. He was thrown
into solitary confinement, where he remained for 29 years. In 2001, the
state grudgingly acknowledged his innocence and set him free. A story of
inspiration and courage, this simple and humble narrative strips bare the
economic and social injustices inherent in society, while proving to be a
powerful literary testimony to the triumph of the human spirit.