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Finding Aid to the Eldridge Cleaver Photograph Collection, 1966-circa 1982
BANC PIC 1991.078
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Collection Title: Eldridge Cleaver photograph collection
Date (inclusive): 1966-circa 1982
Collection Number: BANC PIC 1991.078
Extent:
Number of containers: 10 boxes, 1 oversize folder (circa 1,720 photographic prints, circa 480 negatives, circa 440 slides).
7 digital objects (7 images)
Repository: The Bancroft Library.
University of California, Berkeley
Berkeley, CA 94720-6000
Phone: (510) 642-6481
Fax: (510) 642-7589
Email: bancref@library.berkeley.edu
URL: http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/
Abstract: Collection consists primarily of snapshots of Eldridge Cleaver's career from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. Earliest materials
relate to his affiliation with the Black Panther Party. Also contains photographs taken during his exile abroad from 1968
to 1975. The majority of photographs was taken after Cleaver's 1975 return to the United States and relate primarily to his
activities in conservative politics and the evangelical Christian movement.
Languages Represented: Collection materials are in
Physical Location: COLLECTION STORED, IN PART, OFF-SITE: Advance notice required for use.
Collection is open for research, with the following exceptions: RESTRICTED NEGATIVES: Use of negatives only by permission
of the appropriate curator. Inquiries concerning these materials should be directed, in writing, to the Head of Public Services,
The Bancroft Library.
Copyright has not been assigned to The Bancroft Library. All requests for permission to publish or reproduce must be submitted
in writing to the Head of Public Services. Permission for publication is given on behalf of The Bancroft Library as the owner
of the physical items and is not intended to include or imply permission of the copyright holder, which must also be obtained
by the user. See:
http://bancroft.berkeley.edu/reference/permissions.html.
[Identification of item], Eldridge Cleaver Photograph Collection, BANC PIC 1991.078, The Bancroft Library, University of California,
Berkeley
Digital reproductions of selected images are available.
Eldridge Cleaver Papers BANC MSS 91/231 c.
The following terms have been used to index the description of this collection in the library's online public access catalog
Allende Gossens, Salvador, 1908-1973--Pictorial works
Axelrod, Beverly--Pictorial works
Carmichael, Stokely--Pictorial works
Cleaver, Eldridge, 1935--Pictorial works
Cleaver, Kathleen--Portraits
Colson, Charles W.--Pictorial works
Newton, Huey P.--Portraits
Stapleton, Ruth Carter--Pictorial works
Black Panther Party--Pictorial works
African Americans--Photographs
Evangelists--California.--Photographs
Gay pride parades--California--San Francisco--Photographs
Political activists--California--Photographs
China--Pictorial works
Korea--Pictorial works
Vietnam (Democratic Republic)--Pictorial works
The Eldridge Cleaver Photograph Collection was transferred from the Eldridge Cleaver Papers, which were given to The Bancroft
Library by Eldridge Cleaver in November 1990. Subsequent additions were received in later years.
No additions are expected.
The collection has been divided and stored by medium: photographic prints, slides, and negatives. Images are arranged chronologically,
followed by categories representing miscellaneous, often undated activities and themes (e.g. speaking engagements, press conferences,
portraits, and family).
Processed by Chris McDonald.
Leroy Eldridge Cleaver was born on August 3, 1935 in Wabbaseka, Arkansas. In 1956 his family moved to Los Angeles. During
his youth he was convicted for various theft and drug offenses and spent time in reformatories and the California State Prison
at Soledad. In 1958 he was convicted of assault and spent 8 years in the San Quentin and Folsom prisons. During this period
of incarceration he became a member and minister of the Nation of Islam and a follower of Malcolm X. With the assistance of
attorney and lover Beverly Axelrod, Cleaver had several of his prison writings published in the left-wing periodical
Ramparts. The support which his writings earned him from the U.S. intellectual community was influential in gaining Cleaver's release
from prison in 1965. In 1967, while living in the San Francisco Bay Area, Cleaver married Kathleen Neal, an activist in the
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. That same year he befriended Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, co-founders of the
Black Panther Party, and soon became the Party's Minister of Information. The following year Cleaver published
Soul On Ice -- a collection of essays named Book of the Year by the
New York Times -- and ran as a candidate for the U.S. Presidency for the Peace and Freedom Party. Later that year Cleaver and fellow Black
Panther Bobby Hutton were involved in a shootout with Oakland Police. Hutton was killed and Cleaver was charged with murder.
While awaiting trial, Cleaver fled to Cuba. He would spend the next seven years in exile, living also in Algeria and Paris
during that time. During his exile, Cleaver formed the International Section of the Black Panther Party in Algeria; met with
political leaders in North Vietnam, North Korea and China; quickly became disillusioned with Marxist-Leninist beliefs; and
eventually broke ties with the Black Panthers. During this time he and Kathleen had two children, Antonio Maceo and Joju.
While in Paris, Cleaver experienced a spiritual transformation which led to his conversion to Christianity and conservative
politics. In 1975 Cleaver negotiated with the F.B.I. for his return to the United States as a prisoner. In 1977, after his
renunciation of his earlier political activity and his release from prison, he founded the Eldridge Cleaver Crusades, an evangelical
Christian movement. Cleaver would later have affiliations with Sun Myung Moon's Collegiate Association of Research Principles
and the Mormon Church. In the 1980s Cleaver ran two unsuccessful campaigns for U.S. Congress. He later became addicted to
crack cocaine and was arrested on several drug-related charges. In 1987 Kathleen Cleaver divorced him. In the 1990s Cleaver
kicked his addiction and worked as a diversity consultant for the University of La Verne in Southern California. Eldridge
Cleaver died May 1, 1998.
[Biographical information abridged from that of the finding aid for the Eldridge Cleaver Papers, BANC MSS 91/231 c.]
Scope and Content of Collection
Collection consists primarily of snapshots of Eldridge Cleaver's career from the mid-1960s to the early 1980s. Earliest materials
relate to his affiliation with the Black Panther Party and include snapshots, portraits and negatives of party leaders such
as Alprentice "Bunchy" Carter, John Higgins, Stokley Carmichael and attorney Beverly Axelrod. Also contains photographs taken
during his exile abroad from 1968 to 1975, including his stays in Cuba, Algeria and France; visits to China, North Korea and
North Vietnam; and a meeting with Chilean President Salvador Allende. The majority of photographs was taken after his 1975
return to the United States and relate primarily to his activities in conservative politics and the Evangelical Christian
movement, including speaking engagements at various California churches and universities. Approximately fifty snapshots of
a San Francisco Gay Pride Parade, dated June 1977, are included. Also contains photographs of his wife Kathleen Cleaver and
children Antonio Maceo and Joju, various friends, and such associates as Huey Newton, Charles Colson and Ruth Carter Stapleton.