H. Rap Brown began his life in the civil rights movement with the SNCC [Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee] and became their national Chairman in May 1967.
He became the Minister of Justice of the Black Panthers in 1968. It was his use of violent rhetoric that brought him into national attention.
He was arrested for attempted armed robbery in 1970 and sentenced to 5 years in prison.
Upon his release he became a Muslim convert and lived a relatively quiet life until March 2000 when he was arrested for murder; the selection of the jury for his trial began on January 8, 2002.