Biography
Herbert X. Blyden was a jailhouse lawyer, prison organizer, and civil-rights activist born in St. Thomas in the U.S. Virgin Islands. While imprisoned on a disputed 1965 armed-robbery conviction, he served as a negotiator during the 1970 uprising at the Manhattan House of Detention and as a chief negotiator and spokesman during the September 1971 Attica uprising. State forces beat and tortured Blyden after retaking Attica. Charges arising from both uprisings were dismissed, and he was released in 1973. Blyden later spoke at political and civil-rights rallies and joined the federal civil action brought by Attica survivors. He died from prostate cancer in Buffalo on September 21, 1997.
The October 8, 1971 Militant reports that Herbert X. Blyden was thirty-four, moved from the Virgin Islands to New York at sixteen, and received a five-year reformatory sentence following an alleged gas-station robbery four years later. It distinguishes a subsequent armed-robbery conviction carrying an imposed fifteen-to-twenty-year term, which he contested. It names Richard Cherry and Eve Cary as lawyers assisting him, reports seventy-two counts arising from the 1970 Tombs uprising, and describes his legal study and Attica negotiating role. Imposed terms are not treated as actual custody totals. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1971/3536/MIL3536.pdf#page=10
The paper identifies this person as a Tombs inmate still awaiting trial on charges arising from the 1970 rebellion. It supplies no new admission, release or complete custody duration. Liberated Guardian, vol.III no.8, February 1973 (masthead copyright1972 does not match January1973 events), original PDF page 13. Source: https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC510_scans/Attica/510.liberated.guardian.February1973.pdf#page=13
Right On! names the seven elected Tombs prisoner representatives in a 72-count indictment placed against them on January 25, 1971, over the October 22, 1970 rebellion: fifty kidnapping, fourteen unlawful-imprisonment, five coercion and one each reckless-endangerment, riot and interference-with-government-administration counts. Its expression “dropped ... on” describes bringing the indictment, not dismissing it. The publication alleges retaliation for prisoners’ organizing and legal education. No physical release date or final disposition follows from this report. Source: Right On!, April 3, 1971, PDF page 17. https://freedomarchives.org/Documents/Finder/DOC513_scans/BPP_Intercommunal/513.Black%20Panther%20%28New%29%20Intercommunal%20News%20Service.The_Black_Panther_1971.pdf#page=17
Documented case history
The September 24, 1997 obituary reports death at a Buffalo hospice on the preceding Sunday, September 21, age 61. It distinguishes earlier federal imprisonment and a subsequent five-year state sentence from the disputed 1965 robbery conviction, and reports release in 1973 without a day. The obituary’s 10–15-year sentence differs from other accounts; no January 1 release day or additional continuous prison term is inferred.
The primer identifies Blyden as an Attica Liberation Faction founder, Nation of Islam community member and negotiating-committee participant. It links his demand-writing role in the 1970 Tombs rebellion to the later Attica organizing. His call for transport to a nonimperialist country was a demand, not proof of executed release or exile.
Attica Prison Uprising 101: A Short Primer (Project NIA, September 2011), PDF page 7.
The December 1971 report names him among Attica inmates seeking an injunction against further physical abuse.
