Percy Sutton

Sutton was born in San Antonio, Texas, the youngest of fifteen children born to Samuel Johnson Sutton and his wife, Lillian.{{Cite web |last=Kay |first=LaVone |date=2021-02-24 |title=Percy Ellis Sutton |url=https://cafriseabove.org/percy-ellis-sutton/#:~:text=Born%20on%20November%2024,%201920,Johnson%20Sutton%20and%20Lillian%20Sutton. |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=CAF RISE ABOVE |language=en-US}}

His father, an early civil-rights activist, was one of the first black civil servants a teacher and school administrator in Bexar County, Texas, and used the initials "S.J." for fear his first name, Samuel, would be shortened to Sambo. In addition to being a full-time educator, S.J. farmed, sold real estate and owned a mattress factory, funeral home and skating rink.[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28sutton.html Martin, Douglas. "Percy E. Sutton, Political Trailblazer, Dies at 89"], The New York Times, December 28, 2009.

Sutton's siblings included G. J. Sutton, who became the first black elected official in San Antonio, and Oliver Sutton, a judge on the New York Supreme Court.[http://www.tshaonline.org/handbook/online/articles/fsu11] Handbook of Texas Online. Accessed July 11, 2023.

At age twelve, Percy stowed away on a passenger train to New York City, where he slept under a sign on 155th Street in the Harlem neighborhood of the Manhattan borough of the city. His oldest sister, Lillian Sutton Taylor, who was 20 years his senior, was attending Columbia Teacher's College at the time. His oldest brother, John Sutton, a food scientist who had studied under George Washington Carver, and also in Russia, was living in New York at the time Percy arrived there. His family was committed to civil rights, and he bristled at racism. 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.

He 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.{{cite book|last=Townley|first=Alvin|year=2006|url=http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531|title=Legacy of Honor: The Values and Influence of America's Eagle Scouts|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York City|pages=48–60, 259, 284|isbn=0-312-36653-1|access-date=December 29, 2006|archive-date=December 19, 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061219180428/http://www.thomasdunnebooks.com/TD_TitleDetail.aspx?ISBN=0312366531|url-status=dead}} Percy and Leatrice Sutton married in 1943. He later took up stunt-flying on the barnstorming circuit, but gave it up after a friend crashed.

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.{{Cite web |last=Mack |first=Dwayne |date=2009-08-22 |title=Percy Sutton (1920-2009) • |url=https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/sutton-percy-1920/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |language=en-US}}

Sutton attended Prairie View A&M University in Prairie View, Texas; the Tuskegee Institute in Tuskegee, Alabama; and the Hampton Institute in Hampton, Virginia without receiving a degree. He went on to attend Columbia Law School and Brooklyn Law School, ultimately receiving his LL.B. from the latter institution in 1950.{{Cite web|url=http://www.blslibrary.com/2010/02/25/tribute-to-percy-sutton-class-of-1950/|title=Tribute to Percy Sutton, Class of 1950|date=25 February 2010}} Shortly thereafter, he was admitted to the New York bar.

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.{{Cite web |title=Percy Sutton- Civil Rights Activist |url=https://www.myblackhistory.net/Percy_Sutton.htm |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=www.myblackhistory.net}}

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.{{Clarify|date=December 2009|reason=the reason for jailing needs some context}}

Sutton was a longtime leader in Harlem politics, and was a leader of the Harlem Clubhouse, also known as the "Gang of Four".{{Cite web |title=Harlem's demographic is changing and so are its politics |url=https://ny1.com/nyc/manhattan/news/2024/02/28/harlem-s-demographic-is-changing-and-so-are-its-politics |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=ny1.com |language=en}} The Clubhouse has dominated Democratic politics in Harlem since the 1960s.{{Cite web |last=Pressman • • |first=Gabe |date=2010-03-03 |title=The Twilight of Harlem's Gang of Four |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/the-twilight-of-the-gang-of-four/1879544/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=NBC New York |language=en-US}} 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.{{Cite web |last=Vincent |first=Isabel |date=2010-01-03 |title=Fall of the house of Percy Sutton |url=https://nypost.com/2010/01/03/fall-of-the-house-of-percy-sutton/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |language=en-US}} Sutton was the one who told David Paterson he should run for the State Senate. He also was a life member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.{{Cite news |last=Hodgson |first=Godfrey |date=2010-03-08 |title=Percy Sutton obituary |url=https://www.theguardian.com/theguardian/2010/mar/08/percy-sutton-obituary |access-date=2025-02-06 |work=The Guardian |language=en-GB |issn=0261-3077}}

He was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1965 and 1966. On September 13, 1966, he was elected Borough President of Manhattan, to fill the vacancy caused by the appointment of Constance Baker Motley to the federal bench.[https://query.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=9C0DE2DF113CE731A25757C1A96F9C946791D6CF Sutton Elected Manhattan Borough President] in the New York Times on September 14, 1966 (subscription required) 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 the general election.{{Cite web |last=Pressman • • |first=Gabe |date=2009-12-28 |title=Percy Sutton: A Legend Gone |url=https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/percy-sutton-a-legend-gone/2121500/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |website=NBC New York |language=en-US}}

In his race for mayor, Sutton surprised his liberal political base when he turned temporarily to the right. He assailed the rising crime rate, as he termed the situation "a city turned sick with the fear of crime". He attacked criminals for "cheating, stealing, and driving away our families and our jobs."Dominic Sandbroook, Mad as Hell: The Crisis of the 1970s and the Rise of the Populist Right (New York City: Alfred A. Knopf, 2011, p. 64); {{ISBN|9781400042623}} His candidacy was fatally injured by racial backlash that followed the looting and arson during the New York City blackout of 1977, directly precipitating his retrenchment from politics:{{Cite book|last=Mahler|first=Jonathan|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56057911|title=Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning: 1977, baseball, politics, and the battle for the soul of a city|date=2005|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=0-374-17528-4|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=232–234|oclc=56057911}}

"It was an especially cruel fate for ... Sutton, a master builder of color-blind alliances, who had long been tapped most likely to become New York's first black mayor. (New York magazine titled a May 1974 Sutton profile 'Guess Who's Coming to Gracie Mansion?'"){{cite magazine |magazine=New York Magazine |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=n-kCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA39 |title=Guess Who's Coming to Gracie Mansion |author=Nicholas Pileggi |date=May 27, 1974 |page=39}}{{Cite book|last=Mahler|first=Jonathan|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/56057911|title=Ladies and gentlemen, the Bronx is burning: 1977, baseball, politics, and the battle for the soul of a city|date=2005|publisher=Farrar, Straus and Giroux|isbn=0-374-17528-4|edition=1st|location=New York|pages=232|oclc=56057911}}

In 1971, Sutton cofounded the Inner City Broadcasting Corporation which purchased New York City's WLIB-AM, and WBLS FM the city's first African-American-owned radio station.[https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/28/nyregion/28percyreax.html Fahim, Kareem & Solie, Stacey. "In Harlem, Reflections on the Life of Percy Sutton," The New York Times, Monday, December 28, 2009.]

Sutton served in the New York City Police Department Auxiliary Police during the late 1970s.[https://books.google.com/books?id=deMCAAAAMBAJ&q=percy+sutton+auxiliary+police&pg=PA35 New York Magazine article on Sutton], books.google.com

Sutton produced It's Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated, music television show first broadcast on September 12, 1987.

In 1987, Sutton was awarded the Spingarn Medal, an award presented annually by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by an African American. In 1992, he received a Candace Award from the National Coalition of 100 Black Women.{{cite journal |title=Camille Cosby, Kathleen Battle Win Candace Awards |journal=Jet |date=July 20, 1992 |volume= 82 |issue=13 |pages=16–17 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gbkDAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA16 }}

In 2024, Sutton was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.{{Cite magazine |last=Nicholson |first=Jessica |date=2024-08-19 |title=Percy Sutton, Charlie Douglas, Maria Martin & Rusty Walker Among Radio Hall of Fame 2024 Legends of Radio Inductees |url=https://www.billboard.com/business/radio/2024-radio-hall-of-fame-legends-of-radio-inductees-1235755704/ |access-date=2025-02-06 |magazine=Billboard |language=en-US}}

{{Portal|Biography|Texas|New York City|Politics|Law|Liberalism|Television|United States}}

• Dogfights (TV series)
• Executive Order 9981
• Freeman Field Mutiny
• List of Tuskegee Airmen
• Military history of African Americans
• The Tuskegee Airmen (movie)
• Tuskegee Airmen
• Gang of Four (Harlem)
• David Paterson
• J. Raymond Jones

• John C. Walker,The Harlem Fox: J. Raymond Jones at Tammany 1920:1970, New York: State University New York Press, 1989.
• David N. Dinkins, A Mayor's Life: Governing New York's Gorgeous Mosaic, PublicAffairs Books, 2013
• Rangel, Charles B.; Wynter, Leon (2007)And I Haven't Had a Bad Day Since: From the Streets of Harlem to the Halls of Congress. New York: St. Martin's Press.
• Paterson, David Black, Blind, & In Charge: A Story of Visionary Leadership and Overcoming Adversity. New York, New York, 2020

{{Reflist}}

The African American Registry{{Clarify|date=December 2009|reason=what is this sourcing?}}

• {{IMDb name|name=Percy Sutton|id=0840377}}
• [https://archive.today/20130116200517/http://www.amsterdamnews.com/articles/2009/12/27/news/doc4b3834592f2da620759327.txt Boyd, Herb. "'Mr. Chairman,' Percy Ellis Sutton, passes at 89," New York Amsterdam News, Sunday, December 27, 2009.]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20080828103607/http://www.aaregistry.com/african_american_history/2620/One_of_Texas_finest_Percy_E_Sutton One of Texas Finest]
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006082942/http://www.synematics.com/ Synematics, Inc]
• [http://www.visionaryproject.org/suttonpercy Percy Sutton's oral history video excerpts] at The National Visionary Leadership Project

{{S-start}}

{{s-par|us-ny-hs}}

{{Succession box | title = New York State Assembly
New York County, 11th District | before = Lloyd E. Dickens | years = 1965 | after = district abolished}}

{{Succession box | title = New York State Assembly
77th District | before = new district | years = 1966 | after = Robert García}}

{{s-off}}

{{Succession box | title = Borough President of Manhattan | before = Constance Baker Motley | after = Andrew Stein | years = 1966–1977}}

{{S-end}}

{{Tuskegee Airmen}}

{{Manhattan Borough President}}

{{Spingarn Medal}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sutton, Percy}}

Category:1920 births

Category:2009 deaths

Category:Politicians from San Antonio

Category:African-American state legislators in New York (state)

Category:Activists for African-American civil rights

Category:American civil rights lawyers

Category:Columbia Law School alumni

Category:Brooklyn Law School alumni

Category:Hampton University alumni

Category:Manhattan borough presidents

Category:Democratic Party members of the New York State Assembly

Category:Military personnel from Texas

Category:Prairie View A&M University alumni

Category:United States Army Air Forces officers

Category:Tuskegee Airmen

Category:20th-century members of the New York State Legislature

Category:Activists from Texas

Category:David Paterson

Category:New York Amsterdam News people