1. Percy Ellis Sutton was an American political and business leader.
22 Facts About Percy Sutton
1. 2.
Percy Sutton later became an entrepreneur whose investments included the New York Amsterdam News and the Apollo Theater in Harlem.
3.
Percy Sutton, who became the first black elected official in San Antonio, and Oliver Percy Sutton, a judge on the New York Supreme Court.
4.
At age twelve, Percy Sutton 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.
5.
Percy Sutton's family was committed to civil rights, and he bristled at racism.
6.
Percy Sutton 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.
7.
Percy Sutton stated that scouting was a key factor in shaping his life.
8.
Percy Sutton later took up stunt-flying on the barnstorming circuit, but gave it up after a friend crashed.
9.
Percy Sutton won combat stars in the Italian and Mediterranean theaters.
10.
Percy Sutton went on to attend Columbia Law School and Brooklyn Law School, ultimately receiving his LL.
11.
Percy Sutton 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.
12.
Percy Sutton was a longtime leader in Harlem politics, and was a leader of the Harlem Clubhouse, known as the "Gang of Four".
13.
Percy Sutton was the one who told David Paterson he should run for the State Senate.
14.
Percy Sutton was a life member of the Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity.
15.
Percy Sutton was a member of the New York State Assembly in 1965 and 1966.
16.
Percy Sutton served in that post until 1977, when he ran for the Democratic nomination for New York City Mayor against Bella Abzug, a former US Representative; US Representative Herman Badillo; incumbent New York City Mayor Abraham Beame; New York Secretary of State Mario Cuomo; and US Representative Ed Koch; Koch won the nomination and the general election.
17.
Percy Sutton assailed the rising crime rate, as he termed the situation "a city turned sick with the fear of crime".
18.
In 1971, Percy 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.
19.
Percy Sutton served in the New York City Police Department Auxiliary Police during the late 1970s.
20.
Percy Sutton produced It's Showtime at the Apollo, a syndicated, music television show first broadcast on September 12,1987.
21.
In 1987, Percy Sutton was awarded the Spingarn Medal, an award presented annually by the NAACP for outstanding achievement by an African American.
22.
In 2024, Percy Sutton was inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame.