Percy Sutton, often lauded for his role as Malcolm X’s attorney, was also a New York State Assemblyman and acted as Manhattan borough president during the late 1960s.
Percy Sutton, Rev. Jesse Jackson, Sen. George McGovern, Hugh Hefner at Operation PUSH dinner in Chicago. The organization, People United to Serve Humanity, hosted a benefit soul food dinner with 10,000 in attendance.
The wife of slain leader Malcolm X, Mrs. Betty Shabazz, leaves the morgue at Bellevue Hospital in New York after identifying the body of her husband. With Mrs. Shabazz is her attorney, Percy Sutton. Malcolm X was shot to death Feb. 21st while addressing a meeting of his followers.
Quite the businessman, Sutton teamed with his brother to purchase WLIB-AM, which is credited as New York City’s first, Black-owned radio station. After co-founding the Inner City Broadcasting Company, the pair would later purchase WBLS-FM, also in New York, followed by stations in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Detroit and their hometown in Texas.
Percy Sutton, who rescued the Apollo Theater in New York City from extinction, poses under the Marquee.
Adam Clayton Powell Day proclaimed, November 29, 1974. L to R: Percy Sutton, Adam Clayton Powell III, son of ACP, Deputy Mayor Paul Gibson, Manhattan Councilman Fred Samuel.
In an undated photograph, Mayor John V. Lindsay stands with Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton and family.
New York Mayor Abraham Beame, left, and president of New York city council Percy Sutton, right, shake hands as Jacqueline Onassis looks on during meeting at Grand Central Station Oyster Bar in February of 1977. They were there to promote campaign to save Landmark status for Grand Central Station in upcoming court battle in New York State Court of appeals.
From left to right: Ossie Davis, Correta Scott King, Percy Sutton and Ruby Dee chatting during a New York Council of Minority Builders reception on Sunday, Jan. 16, 1984 at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York. The Council of Minority builders presented a donation to Coretta Scott King for the Martin Luther King Center for Non-Violent Social Change.
Prince Andrew, the Duke of York, and Percy Sutton listen to Roscoe Brown during the prince’s visit to the 369th Regiment Armory in Harlem in 2000. Mr. Brown was a member of the Tuskegee Airmen during World War II and Mr. Sutton served in the 369th Regiment of the same conflict.
Qubilah Shabazz , center, mother of Malcolm Shabazz, enters family court Tuesday, July 15, 1997, in Yonkers, N.Y. Malcolm Shabazz is accused of setting the fire that killed his grandmother, Betty Shabazz, widow of slain civil rights leader Malcolm X. David Dinkins, second from left, former mayor of New York, is Malcom’s co-counsel along with Percy Sutton, far left.
At least 5,000 demonstrators, lead by Saikou Diallo, second from left, Rev. Al Sharpton, center, former mayor David Dinkins, second from right, and Percy Sutton, right, march in a rally to protest police brutality over New York’s Brooklyn Bridge on Thursday April 15, 1999. Organizers said the march was a call for the federal government to help protect black men just as it once stepped in to ensure civil rights in the South.
Former New York City Mayor David N. Dinkins and Civil Rights activist Percy Sutton attend the 80th anniversary celebration of Harlem’s Schomburg Center at Lincoln Center in New York in 2006.
Singer Ne-yo and presenter Percy Sutton attend NABOB’s 24th Annual Communications Awards Dinner at the Marriott’s Wardman Park Hotel on March 05, 2008 in Washington, DC.
Daughter, Karen Sutton, Apollo Theater owner Percy Sutton and actress Lorey Hayes attend the Apollo Theater 2005 Spring Benefit ‘The Magic Lives On.’
