ELDRIDGE CLEAVER

Born in Wabaseka, Ark., in 1935. After serving prison time for assault, he became senior editor of Ramparts magazine in 1966. He joined the Party in 1967, becoming its Minister of Information and putting together The Black Panther newspaper.

He was the 1968 Presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party. He and Lil' Bobby Hutton, one of the first Panther members, were assaulted by police in 1968. (Hutton was killed in that attack, while Cleaver was arrested.)

He and Kathleen Cleaver, his wife and a Panther leader in her own right, fled the country, eventually founding the Panther's international branch in Algeria before moving to France. Cleaver split from the Party in 1971, forming his own version of the organization with several Party chapters switching from Seale to him. Cleaver returned to the United States in the late 1970s as a born-again Christian and entrepreneur. A 1991 Emerge magazine story listed his current residence as Berkeley, Ca.

Copyright © 2001-, Terry Muse
Revised: November 6, 2001
URL: http://black_and_hispanic.tripod.com/blackhistory/
Contact: Terry Muse