R.I.P. Percy Sutton

Major Major Salute to Mr Percy Sutton

Percy Ellis Sutton (November 24, 1920 – December 26, 2009) was an American who was one of the nation's most prominent black political and business leaders. As a civil-rights activist and lawyer, he was a Freedom Rider and the legal representative for Malcolm X. He was the highest-ranking African-American elected official in New York City when he was Manhattan borough president from 1966 to 1977, the longest tenure at that position. He later became an entrepreneur whose investments included the New York Amsterdam News and the Apollo Theater in Harlem.[1]

utton was born in San Antonio, Texas, the last of fifteen children born to Samuel ("S.J.") Sutton and Lillian Sutton.
His father, born during the time [2]of slavery and an early civil-rights activist, was one of the first blacks in Bexar County, Texas, and used the initials "S.J." for fear it would be shortened to Sambo. His father was a principal of a segregated high school in San Antonio and his mother was a teacher. In addition to being a full-time educator, S.J. farmed, sold real estate and owned a mattress factory, funeral home and skating rink.[3]
All of Sutton's siblings graduated from college. His brothers included G.J. Sutton, who became the first black elected official in San Antonio,[4] and Oliver Sutton, who became a judge on the New York Supreme Court.
Young Sutton milked cows and rode around San Antonio with his father in the same Studebaker vehicle[clarification needed] that was used for funerals and distributing milk to the poor. He liked to attach strings to cans to pretend to be a radio broadcaster.
At age twelve, he stowed away on a passenger train to New York City, New York, where he slept under a sign on 155th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of the city. Far from being angry, his family regarded it as an adventure.[citation needed]
His family was committed to civil rights, and he bristled at prejudice. At age thirteen, while passing out leaflets in an all-white neighborhood for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), he was beaten by a policeman.[citation needed]
Sutton had joined the Boy Scouts of America and attained the rank of Eagle Scout in 1936 and was recognized with the Distinguished Eagle Scout Award as an adult. Sutton stated that scouting was a key factor in shaping his life.[5]
He took up stunt-flying on the barnstorming circuit, but gave it up after a friend crashed. Later, during World War II, he served as an intelligence officer with the Tuskegee Airmen — the popular name of a group of African American pilots who flew with distinction during World War II as the 332nd Fighter Group of the U.S. Army Air Forces. He won combat stars in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters.
Sutton attended[clarification needed] Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas; the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama; and the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia. He went on to attend Brooklyn Law School in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, New York

During the 1950s and 1960s, Sutton became one of America's best-known lawyers.He represented many controversial figures, such as Malcolm X. After the murder of Malcolm X in 1965, Sutton and his brother Oliver helped to cover the expenses of his widow, Betty Shabazz.[citation needed] Sutton's civil-rights advocacy took him even further in the minds of many. Being jailed with Stokely Carmichael and other activists endeared him to the Harlem community and showed many that he was willing to place himself in harm's way for his client's sake.[clarification needed]
Sutton was a longtime leader in Harlem politics, and was a leader of the Harlem Clubhouse. The Clubhouse has dominated Democratic politics in Harlem since the 1960s. His allies in running the Clubhouse were New York City Mayor David Dinkins, U.S. Representative Charles Rangel, and New York Secretary of State Basil Paterson — whose son, David Paterson, became New York Governor in 2008.He also was a life member of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity Inc.
He served in the New York Assembly in 1965-1966.[6] He ran for borough president of Manhattan in 1965, and won with 80%[citation needed] of the vote. He served in that post until 1977, when he ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor against Bella Abzug, a former U.S. Representative; U.S. Representative Herman Badillo; incumbent New York City Mayor Abraham Beame; New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo; and U.S. Representative Ed Koch; Koch won the nomination and mayoralty.
In 1971, Sutton cofounded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation which purchased New York City's WLIB-AM, the city's first African-American-owned radio station.[7]
Sutton served as an Auxiliary Police officer with the NYPD in the late 1970s.[8]
He initiated[citation needed] the revitalization of the Apollo Theater in Harlem. He also produced It's Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated, music television show first broadcast in September 12, 1987.

He and Leatrice Sutton were married in 1943; she survives him.