Eldridge Cleaver
Encyclopedia
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver better known as Eldridge Cleaver, was a leading member of the Black Panther Party
and a writer. His book Soul On Ice
is a collection of essays praised by The New York Times Book Review
at the time of its publication as "brilliant and revealing."
Cleaver was a prominent member of the Black Panthers, having the titles Minister of Information, and Head of the International Section of the Panthers while in exile in Cuba
and Algeria
. As editor of the official Panther's newspaper, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the Party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton
and Bobby Seale
. Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out with each other, resulting in a split which weakened the Party. He later turned to the right, becoming an LDS Church member and a Republican Party
member.
, as a child Cleaver moved with his family to Phoenix
and then to Los Angeles
. In 1967 he married Kathleen Neal Cleaver
; they divorced in 1987. They had a son, Ahmad Maceo Eldridge Cleaver, and a daughter, Joju Younghi Cleaver.
As a teenager he was involved in petty crime and spent time in detention centers. In 1957 Cleaver was arrested for committing rape
and was convicted of assault
with intent to murder.
magazine and then in book form as Soul on Ice. In the essays, Cleaver traces his own development from a "supermasculine menial" to a radical black liberationist, and the essays became highly influential in the black power
movement.
In the most controversial part of the book, Cleaver acknowledges committing acts of rape, stating that he initially raped black women in the ghetto "for practice", and then embarked on the rape of white women. Cleaver refers to the serial rape of white women as "an insurrectionary act."
The essays in Soul on Ice are divided in four thematic sections:
"Letters from Prison", describing Cleaver's experiences with and thoughts on crime and prisons; "Blood of the Beast", discussing race relations and promoting black liberation ideology; "Prelude to Love - Three Letters", love letters written to Cleaver's attorney, Beverly Axelrod; and "White Woman, Black Man", on gender relations, black masculinity, and sexuality.
-based Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information, or spokesperson. What initially attracted Cleaver to the Panthers as opposed to other prominent groups was their commitment to armed struggle.
In 1967, Eldridge Cleaver, along with Marvin X, Ed Bullins
and Ethna Wyatt, formed the Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco. Amiri Baraka
, Sonia Sanchez
, Askia Toure, Sarah Webster Fabio, Art Ensemble of Chicago
, Avotcja, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglas
, Samuel Napier, Bobby Hutton
, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale
were Black House regulars.
He was a Presidential
candidate in 1968 on the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party. Cleaver and his running mate Judith Mage received 36,571 votes (0.05%). Later that year, he was shot during an ambush of Oakland police in which fellow Black Panther member Bobby Hutton
was killed and two police officers were injured. Charged with attempted murder, he jumped bail to flee to Cuba
and later went to Algeria
. Following Timothy Leary
's Weather Underground assisted prison escape, Leary stayed with Cleaver in Algeria; however, Cleaver placed Leary under "revolutionary arrest" as a counter-revolutionary for promoting drug use. Cleaver later left Algeria and spent time in France
.
Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton eventually fell out with each other over the necessity of armed struggle as a response to COINTELPRO
and other actions by the government against the Black Panthers and other radical groups. Cleaver advocated the escalation of armed resistance into urban guerilla warfare, while Newton suggested the best way to respond to was to put down the gun, which he felt alienated the Panthers from the rest of the Black community, and focus on more pragmatic reformist activity.
Cleaver returned to the United States in 1975, became a 'born again' Christian
and subsequently renounced his ultra-radical past. Legal wrangling ended in his being sentenced to probation
for assault. In 1980, he said that he had led the Panther group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers, thus provoking the shoot-out.
s from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which the United States was then bombing. Cleaver stated that he was followed by other former criminals turned revolutionaries, many of whom hijacked planes to get to Algeria. Apparently, the Algerians expected Cleaver to keep his proteges in line, which he described as increasingly difficult as their increasing numbers stretched his North Vietnam
ese allowance to the breaking point. Cleaver organized a stolen car ring, stealing cars in Europe
to sell in Africa
. Around this time Cleaver discovered his wife had a lover; the lover was subsequently murdered. Cleaver eventually fled Algeria out of fear for his life. He could no longer control his proteges and the Algerian police were cracking down on them. He subsequently lived underground for a time in France
. Cleaver became a "born again" Christian
during his year of isolation, while living underground. He later led a short-lived revival
ist ministry called Eldridge Cleaver Crusades.
's campus ministry organization CARP, and Mormonism
. Cleaver was baptized
into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 11, 1983, periodically attended regular services, lectured by invitation at LDS gatherings, and was a member of the church in good standing at the time of his death in 1998.
By the 1980s, Cleaver had become a conservative Republican
. He appeared at various Republican events and spoke at a California Republican State Central Committee meeting regarding his political transformation. In 1986 Cleaver embarked on an unsuccessful campaign to win the United States Senate
seat held by Democratic incumbent Sen. Alan Cranston
, as he received less than two percent of the vote in the Republican Party primary.
In 1988, Cleaver was placed on probation for burglary and was briefly jailed later in the year after testing positive for cocaine
. He entered drug rehabilitation for a stated crack cocaine
addiction two years later, but was arrested for possession by Oakland and Berkeley Police in 1992 and 1994. Shortly after his final arrest, he moved to Southern California, falling into poor health.
. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California
.
Black Panther Party
The Black Panther Party wasan African-American revolutionary leftist organization. It was active in the United States from 1966 until 1982....
and a writer. His book Soul On Ice
Soul On Ice
Soul On Ice is a memoir and collection of essays written by Eldridge Cleaver. Originally written in Folsom State Prison in 1965, and published three years later in 1968, it is Cleaver's best known writing and remains a seminal work in African-American literature...
is a collection of essays praised by The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review
The New York Times Book Review is a weekly paper-magazine supplement to The New York Times in which current non-fiction and fiction books are reviewed. It is one of the most influential and widely read book review publications in the industry. The offices are located near Times Square in New York...
at the time of its publication as "brilliant and revealing."
Cleaver was a prominent member of the Black Panthers, having the titles Minister of Information, and Head of the International Section of the Panthers while in exile in Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. As editor of the official Panther's newspaper, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the Party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton
Huey P. Newton
Huey Percy Newton was an American political and urban activist who, along with Bobby Seale, co-founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense.-Early life:...
and Bobby Seale
Bobby Seale
Robert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
. Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out with each other, resulting in a split which weakened the Party. He later turned to the right, becoming an LDS Church member and a Republican Party
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
member.
Biography
Born in Wabbaseka, ArkansasWabbaseka, Arkansas
Wabbaseka is a city in Jefferson County, Arkansas, United States. Its population was 323 at the 2000 U.S. census. It is included in the Pine Bluff, Arkansas Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Wabbaseka is located at ....
, as a child Cleaver moved with his family to Phoenix
Phoenix, Arizona
Phoenix is the capital, and largest city, of the U.S. state of Arizona, as well as the sixth most populated city in the United States. Phoenix is home to 1,445,632 people according to the official 2010 U.S. Census Bureau data...
and then to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
. In 1967 he married Kathleen Neal Cleaver
Kathleen Neal Cleaver
Kathleen Neal Cleaver is an American professor of law, known for her involvement with the Black Panther Party.- Early life :...
; they divorced in 1987. They had a son, Ahmad Maceo Eldridge Cleaver, and a daughter, Joju Younghi Cleaver.
As a teenager he was involved in petty crime and spent time in detention centers. In 1957 Cleaver was arrested for committing rape
Rape
Rape is a type of sexual assault usually involving sexual intercourse, which is initiated by one or more persons against another person without that person's consent. The act may be carried out by physical force, coercion, abuse of authority or with a person who is incapable of valid consent. The...
and was convicted of assault
Assault
In law, assault is a crime causing a victim to fear violence. The term is often confused with battery, which involves physical contact. The specific meaning of assault varies between countries, but can refer to an act that causes another to apprehend immediate and personal violence, or in the more...
with intent to murder.
Soul on Ice
While in prison, he wrote a number of philosophical and political essays, first published in RampartsRamparts (magazine)
Ramparts was an American political and literary magazine, published from 1962 through 1975.-History:Founded by Edward M. Keating as a Catholic literary quarterly, the magazine became closely associated with the New Left after executive editor Warren Hinckle hired Robert Scheer as managing editor...
magazine and then in book form as Soul on Ice. In the essays, Cleaver traces his own development from a "supermasculine menial" to a radical black liberationist, and the essays became highly influential in the black power
Black Power
Black Power is a political slogan and a name for various associated ideologies. It is used in the movement among people of Black African descent throughout the world, though primarily by African Americans in the United States...
movement.
In the most controversial part of the book, Cleaver acknowledges committing acts of rape, stating that he initially raped black women in the ghetto "for practice", and then embarked on the rape of white women. Cleaver refers to the serial rape of white women as "an insurrectionary act."
The essays in Soul on Ice are divided in four thematic sections:
"Letters from Prison", describing Cleaver's experiences with and thoughts on crime and prisons; "Blood of the Beast", discussing race relations and promoting black liberation ideology; "Prelude to Love - Three Letters", love letters written to Cleaver's attorney, Beverly Axelrod; and "White Woman, Black Man", on gender relations, black masculinity, and sexuality.
Black Panther Party
Eldridge Cleaver was released from prison in 1966, after which he joined the OaklandOakland, California
Oakland is a major West Coast port city on San Francisco Bay in the U.S. state of California. It is the eighth-largest city in the state with a 2010 population of 390,724...
-based Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information, or spokesperson. What initially attracted Cleaver to the Panthers as opposed to other prominent groups was their commitment to armed struggle.
In 1967, Eldridge Cleaver, along with Marvin X, Ed Bullins
Ed Bullins
Ed Bullins is an African American playwright. He was also the Minister of Culture for the Black Panthers. In addition, he has won numerous awards, including the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award and several Obies. He is one of the best known playwrights to come from the Black Arts Movement...
and Ethna Wyatt, formed the Black House political/cultural center in San Francisco. Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka
Amiri Baraka , formerly known as LeRoi Jones, is an American writer of poetry, drama, fiction, essays, and music criticism...
, Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez
Sonia Sanchez is an African American poet most often associated with the Black Arts Movement. She has authored over a dozen books of poetry, as well as plays and children's books...
, Askia Toure, Sarah Webster Fabio, Art Ensemble of Chicago
Art Ensemble of Chicago
The Art Ensemble of Chicago is an avant-garde jazz ensemble that grew out of Chicago's AACM in the late 1960s. The group continues to tour and record through 2006, despite the deaths of two of the founding members....
, Avotcja, Reginald Lockett, Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas
Emory Douglas worked as the Minister of Culture for the Black Panther Party from 1967 until the Party disbanded in the 1980s...
, Samuel Napier, Bobby Hutton
Bobby Hutton
Bobby James Hutton, or "Lil' Bobby," was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party. He was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1950. When he was three years old his family moved to California after they were visited by nightriders intimidating and threatening blacks in the area...
, Huey Newton, and Bobby Seale
Bobby Seale
Robert George "Bobby" Seale , is an activist. He is known for co-founding the Black Panther Party with Huey Newton.-Early life:...
were Black House regulars.
He was a Presidential
President of the United States
The President of the United States of America is the head of state and head of government of the United States. The president leads the executive branch of the federal government and is the commander-in-chief of the United States Armed Forces....
candidate in 1968 on the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party. Cleaver and his running mate Judith Mage received 36,571 votes (0.05%). Later that year, he was shot during an ambush of Oakland police in which fellow Black Panther member Bobby Hutton
Bobby Hutton
Bobby James Hutton, or "Lil' Bobby," was the treasurer and first recruit to join the Black Panther Party. He was born in Pine Bluff, Arkansas in 1950. When he was three years old his family moved to California after they were visited by nightriders intimidating and threatening blacks in the area...
was killed and two police officers were injured. Charged with attempted murder, he jumped bail to flee to Cuba
Cuba
The Republic of Cuba is an island nation in the Caribbean. The nation of Cuba consists of the main island of Cuba, the Isla de la Juventud, and several archipelagos. Havana is the largest city in Cuba and the country's capital. Santiago de Cuba is the second largest city...
and later went to Algeria
Algeria
Algeria , officially the People's Democratic Republic of Algeria , also formally referred to as the Democratic and Popular Republic of Algeria, is a country in the Maghreb region of Northwest Africa with Algiers as its capital.In terms of land area, it is the largest country in Africa and the Arab...
. Following Timothy Leary
Timothy Leary
Timothy Francis Leary was an American psychologist and writer, known for his advocacy of psychedelic drugs. During a time when drugs like LSD and psilocybin were legal, Leary conducted experiments at Harvard University under the Harvard Psilocybin Project, resulting in the Concord Prison...
's Weather Underground assisted prison escape, Leary stayed with Cleaver in Algeria; however, Cleaver placed Leary under "revolutionary arrest" as a counter-revolutionary for promoting drug use. Cleaver later left Algeria and spent time in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
.
Eldridge Cleaver and Huey Newton eventually fell out with each other over the necessity of armed struggle as a response to COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO
COINTELPRO was a series of covert, and often illegal, projects conducted by the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation aimed at surveilling, infiltrating, discrediting, and disrupting domestic political organizations.COINTELPRO tactics included discrediting targets through psychological...
and other actions by the government against the Black Panthers and other radical groups. Cleaver advocated the escalation of armed resistance into urban guerilla warfare, while Newton suggested the best way to respond to was to put down the gun, which he felt alienated the Panthers from the rest of the Black community, and focus on more pragmatic reformist activity.
Cleaver returned to the United States in 1975, became a 'born again' Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
and subsequently renounced his ultra-radical past. Legal wrangling ended in his being sentenced to probation
Probation
Probation literally means testing of behaviour or abilities. In a legal sense, an offender on probation is ordered to follow certain conditions set forth by the court, often under the supervision of a probation officer...
for assault. In 1980, he said that he had led the Panther group on a deliberate ambush of the police officers, thus provoking the shoot-out.
Soul on Fire
Playing on the title of Soul on Ice, Cleaver published Soul on Fire in 1978. Cleaver made several claims regarding his exile in Algeria: he claimed he was supported by regular stipendStipend
A stipend is a form of salary, such as for an internship or apprenticeship. It is often distinct from a wage or a salary because it does not necessarily represent payment for work performed, instead it represents a payment that enables somebody to be exempt partly or wholly from waged or salaried...
s from the Democratic Republic of Vietnam, which the United States was then bombing. Cleaver stated that he was followed by other former criminals turned revolutionaries, many of whom hijacked planes to get to Algeria. Apparently, the Algerians expected Cleaver to keep his proteges in line, which he described as increasingly difficult as their increasing numbers stretched his North Vietnam
North Vietnam
The Democratic Republic of Vietnam , was a communist state that ruled the northern half of Vietnam from 1954 until 1976 following the Geneva Conference and laid claim to all of Vietnam from 1945 to 1954 during the First Indochina War, during which they controlled pockets of territory throughout...
ese allowance to the breaking point. Cleaver organized a stolen car ring, stealing cars in Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
to sell in Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...
. Around this time Cleaver discovered his wife had a lover; the lover was subsequently murdered. Cleaver eventually fled Algeria out of fear for his life. He could no longer control his proteges and the Algerian police were cracking down on them. He subsequently lived underground for a time in France
France
The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. Cleaver became a "born again" Christian
Christian
A Christian is a person who adheres to Christianity, an Abrahamic, monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth as recorded in the Canonical gospels and the letters of the New Testament...
during his year of isolation, while living underground. He later led a short-lived revival
Christian revival
Christian revival is a term that generally refers to a specific period of increased spiritual interest or renewal in the life of a church congregation or many churches, either regionally or globally...
ist ministry called Eldridge Cleaver Crusades.
Later life
In the early 1980s, Cleaver became disillusioned with what he saw as the commercial nature of mainstream evangelical Christianity and examined alternatives, including Sun Myung MoonSun Myung Moon
Sun Myung Moon is the Korean founder and leader of the worldwide Unification Church. He is also the founder of many other organizations and projects...
's campus ministry organization CARP, and Mormonism
Mormonism
Mormonism is the religion practiced by Mormons, and is the predominant religious tradition of the Latter Day Saint movement. This movement was founded by Joseph Smith, Jr. beginning in the 1820s as a form of Christian primitivism. During the 1830s and 1840s, Mormonism gradually distinguished itself...
. Cleaver was baptized
Baptism
In Christianity, baptism is for the majority the rite of admission , almost invariably with the use of water, into the Christian Church generally and also membership of a particular church tradition...
into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints on December 11, 1983, periodically attended regular services, lectured by invitation at LDS gatherings, and was a member of the church in good standing at the time of his death in 1998.
By the 1980s, Cleaver had become a conservative Republican
Republican Party (United States)
The Republican Party is one of the two major contemporary political parties in the United States, along with the Democratic Party. Founded by anti-slavery expansion activists in 1854, it is often called the GOP . The party's platform generally reflects American conservatism in the U.S...
. He appeared at various Republican events and spoke at a California Republican State Central Committee meeting regarding his political transformation. In 1986 Cleaver embarked on an unsuccessful campaign to win the United States Senate
United States Senate
The United States Senate is the upper house of the bicameral legislature of the United States, and together with the United States House of Representatives comprises the United States Congress. The composition and powers of the Senate are established in Article One of the U.S. Constitution. Each...
seat held by Democratic incumbent Sen. Alan Cranston
Alan Cranston
Alan MacGregor Cranston was an American journalist and Democratic Senator from California.-Education:Cranston earned his high school diploma from the old Mountain View High School, where among other things, he was a track star...
, as he received less than two percent of the vote in the Republican Party primary.
In 1988, Cleaver was placed on probation for burglary and was briefly jailed later in the year after testing positive for cocaine
Cocaine
Cocaine is a crystalline tropane alkaloid that is obtained from the leaves of the coca plant. The name comes from "coca" in addition to the alkaloid suffix -ine, forming cocaine. It is a stimulant of the central nervous system, an appetite suppressant, and a topical anesthetic...
. He entered drug rehabilitation for a stated crack cocaine
Crack cocaine
Crack cocaine is the freebase form of cocaine that can be smoked. It may also be termed rock, hard, iron, cavvy, base, or just crack; it is the most addictive form of cocaine. Crack rocks offer a short but intense high to smokers...
addiction two years later, but was arrested for possession by Oakland and Berkeley Police in 1992 and 1994. Shortly after his final arrest, he moved to Southern California, falling into poor health.
Death
Eldridge Cleaver died at Pomona Valley Hospital Medical Center on May 1, 1998. His family asked that the hospital not reveal the cause of death, although he was known to have diabetes and prostate cancerProstate cancer
Prostate cancer is a form of cancer that develops in the prostate, a gland in the male reproductive system. Most prostate cancers are slow growing; however, there are cases of aggressive prostate cancers. The cancer cells may metastasize from the prostate to other parts of the body, particularly...
. He is buried at Mountain View Cemetery in Altadena, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
.