Books by Eldridge Cleaver

Soul on Ice /  Post-Prison Writings and Speeches  / Target Zero; A Life in Writing  / Conversation with Eldridge Cleaver

Being Black / Education and Revolution / Eldridge Cleaver  / Eldridge Cleaver Is Free

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An Eldridge Cleaver Bio-Chronology

1935 (August 31) -- Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. His family moved first to Phoenix and then to Los Angeles. Grew up in Watts section. His father was a dining car waiter; his mother a maid. Ran into trouble with the law and finally arrested for theft and selling marijuana.

1954 to 1957 -- Imprisoned at eighteen for possession of  a bag of marijuana

1957 -- Arrested for rape and attempted murder. Convicted of assault with intent to murder and sent to California's tough San Quentin and Folsom prisons. Received two to fourteen year sentence.  

Immersed himself in the writings of various revolutionary authors (Marx, Tom Paine, Lenin, Bakunin, et al.), black American writers (Richard Wright, James Baldwin, W. E. B. Du Bois), and counter-cultural writers  (Norman Mailer, Allen Ginsberg, William S. Burroughs). 

Began to write and through his lawyer, Beverly Axlerod, came to the notice of various literary figures, including Norman Mailer, who petitioned the authorities  for his parole.

1966 -- Released from prison. Helped found the Black Panthers, a militant, leftist, anti-establishment black nationalist group based in Oakland, California. Became its information minister, or spokesman.

1967 to1971 -- Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party

1968 --  Initially published in Ramparts magazine,  his writings were published as the book Soul on Ice. Written almost entirely while he was in Folsom Prison, the book is a loosely knit series of letters and essays about race issues in America, prison life, Baldwin, and other black literary figures, revolutionary violence and his sexual obsessions, especially his obsession with white women.

1968 (April)--  Wounded after a shootout between Black Panthers and police in Oakland. Arrested. Many New York radicals demonstrated for his release. Two months later, released when a judge ruled that he was held as a political prisoner. 

Fall 1968, taught an experimental course at the University of California Berkeley. Then Governor Ronald Reagan was outraged: "If Eldridge Cleaver is allowed to teach our children, they may come home one night and slit our throats?"

1968 --  Ran for U.S. president on the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party, Cleaver. A higher court overturned  the June 1968 ruling that released Cleaver. Faced a long prison term on charges of assault and attempted murder. Jumped bail, and fled the United States for a life of exile. Stopped first in Cuba, then in Algeria.

Traveled widely. Given a warm welcome in the Soviet Union, Vietnam, and Kim II Sung's Korea.  

1971 -- Broke with Panthers and moved to Paris, France. While in France, had a mystical vision in which the faces of Marx, Engels, Mao, Castro, and others appeared in the moon, followed by the face of Christ. This tale created the foundation for his Christian conversion. 

1975 -- Returned to U.S. and began a remarkable political transformation. Renounced the Black Panthers and stated he believed he would be treated fairly by the American judicial system. Murder charges were dropped. Placed on probation for assault. Sentenced to twelve-hundred hours of community service.  

Became a born-again Christian, a follower of the Rev. Sun Myung Moon, a Mormon. Embraced anti-communism. Made an unsuccessful run for the GOP nomination for a Senate seat in California. 

1982 -- Booed by Yale's Afro-American student society for supporting Reagan

1980s (mid) -- Became addicted to crack cocaine, which led to new brushes with the law. 

1986 -- Explained in interview his many life transformations. "Everybody changes, not just me," he said. "I was pulled over in my car with my secretary for a traffic thing, and one of the officers walked up to the car and saw me sitting inside. He took off his hat and said, 'Hey, Eldridge, remember me?'" "He used to be a Panther," Cleaver said. "It was hard to believe."

1988 -- Placed on  probation after convictions for burglary and cocaine possession

1992 --  Arrested again for cocaine possession, but a judge threw out the charges after determining Cleaver was improperly arrested.

1994 --  Berkeley police found him staggering about with a severe head wound and crack in his pocket. Almost died from the blow to the head administered by a fellow addict. With the help of his family, he got off drugs and again immersed himself in evangelical Christianity.

1997 -- Interviewed by Henry Louis Gates, Jr. Cleaver Speaks to Skip Gates 

1997 (April) -- Appeared at an Earth Day conference in Portland, Oregon. He was reported to have said that he'd  " gone beyond civil rights and human rights to creation rights."

1998 (May l) -- Died in hospital, sixty-two years old.  Family refused to disclose the cause of death. At time of his death, worked as a diversity consultant for the University of La Verne, near Los Angeles.

Source: New Criterion, Jun 98, Vol. 16 Issue 10,  p.5,  9p  

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Cleaver as born again Christian said his "red fighting" was born from his experiences in communist countries during his years on the run. "I have taken an oath in my heart to oppose communism until the day I die," Cleaver told interviewers during his congressional campaign. "Everybody changes, not just me," Cleaver explained.

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