Eldridge Cleaver with members of the Black Panther Party

Lessons from Eldridge Cleaver and the Black Panther Party

“Revolutionary or Death” is the 2020 biography written about former Black Panther Party (BPP) Minister of Information Leroy “Eldridge” Cleaver.  The book was written by Justin Clifford.   Eldridge Cleaver without question was an enigmatic figure within the BPP and Clifford attempts to use this biography to show a balanced view of Eldridge Cleaver as insightful and talented while also displaying Cleaver’s brutality and ruthlessness. Most people engaged in studying the history of African liberation movements in general and the BPP in particular already have some understanding of the contradictions within the BPP.  Eldridge personified those contradictions.  On the positive . . .