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Eldridge Cleaver (August 31, 1935 - May 1, 1998) was an author and a prominent American civil rights leader who began as a dominant member of the Black Panther Party. Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, Cleaver moved with his family to Phoenix and then to Los Angeles. As a teenager he was first involved in petty crime, and then in 1957 was convicted of assault with intent to murder. While in prison, he wrote a book of essays, published in book form as Soul on Ice (New York: McGraw-Hill, 1968; paperback Dell/Delta, 1968) which was influential in the black power movement and now widely considered a classic. In the book, Cleaver infamously acknowledges the rape of several white women, which he defended as "an insurrectionary act". He also admitted that he began his career as a rapist by "practicing on black girls in the ghetto." He maintains that his felonious acts have nothing to do with the views expressed in the book. Cleaver was released from prison in 1966, after which he joined the Oakland-based Black Panther Party, serving as Minister of Information (spokesperson). He was a Presidential candidate in 1968 on the ticket of the Peace and Freedom Party. That very year, he was injured in a confrontation between the Panthers and Oakland police. Charged with attempted murder, he jumped bail to flee to Algeria, where he was joined by Timothy Leary. Cleaver placed Leary under "revolutionary arrest" (kidnapped) as a counter-revolutionary, although Leary was later released alive. Cleaver later left Algeria and spent time in Cuba and France.
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