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August 31, 1935 - Eldridge Cleaver

Cleaver occupies an uncomfortable place in the history of American radicalism — a figure whose crimes against women he later framed, in his own writing, as politically motivated acts, a claim that drew both serious engagement and fierce rejection. His role as Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party gave him genuine ideological influence, while his 1968 fugitive status and years in exile marked a period when the internal fractures he helped create were already eroding the organization. The arc from convicted rapist to celebrated radical intellectual to conservative Republican convert resists easy categorization, which is part of what makes him historically significant.

From Wikipedia

Eldridge Cleaver

Leroy Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 – May 1, 1998) was an African American writer and political activist. He was an early leader of the Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information and, while in exile, head of the International Section of the Panthers. As editor of the official Panthers' newspaper, The Black Panther, Cleaver's influence on the direction of the party was rivaled only by founders Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale.

In 1966, Cleaver was convicted of a series of crimes including assault and attempted murder, and he eventually served time in Folsom and San Quentin prisons before being released on parole. In 1968, Cleaver published Soul on Ice, a collection of essays that was met with both praise and condemnation due to its searing commentary on American society and its provocative assertions. Most notoriously, Cleaver admits to raping multiple women prior to his incarceration, and repudiates his previously held belief that this was an "insurrectionary act". That same year, he became a fugitive after wounding two Oakland police officers in an ambush, during which Cleaver was wounded and fellow Black Panther Bobby Hutton was killed. Cleaver and Newton eventually fell out with each other, resulting in a split that weakened the party.

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