CLEAVER, KATHLEEN.
Kathleen Cleaver papers, 1900-2019 (bulk: 1960-2019)
Kathleen Cleaver papers, 1900-2019 (bulk: 1960-2019)
Emory University
Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library
Atlanta, GA 30322
404-727-6887
rose.library@emory.edu
Permanent link: http://pid.emory.edu/ark:/25593/vdvr9
Collection Stored Off-Site
All or portions of this collection are housed off-site. Materials can still be requested but researchers should expect a delay of up to two business days for retrieval.
Table of Contents
Descriptive Summary
Creator: | Cleaver, Kathleen. |
---|---|
Title: | Kathleen Cleaver papers, 1900-2019 (bulk: 1960-2019) |
Call Number: | Manuscript Collection No. 1497 |
Extent: | 118.625 linear feet (116 boxes) |
Abstract: | Papers of African American activist and lawyer, Kathleen Cleaver, including photographs, printed material, audiovisual and born digital material, books and periodicals, writings, subject files, and correspondence. |
Language: | Materials entirely in English. |
Administrative Information
Restrictions on Access
Special restrictions apply: Collection stored off-site. Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance to access this collection.
Use copies have not been made for audiovisual material in this collection. Researchers must contact the Rose Library at least two weeks in advance for access to these items. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to audiovisual material.
Researchers must contact the Rose Library in advance for access to unprocessed born digital materials in this collection. Collection restrictions, copyright limitations, or technical complications may hinder the Rose Library's ability to provide access to unprocessed born digital materials.
Terms Governing Use and Reproduction
All requests subject to limitations noted in departmental policies on reproduction.
Related Materials in Other Repositories
Eldridge Cleaver Papers, The Bancroft Library, University of California, Berkeley.
Source
A portion of this collection was a gift of Jojuyounghi Cleaver, and a portion of this collection was purchased from Kathleen Cleaver, 2020.
Custodial History
Jojuyounghi Cleaver is the daughter of Kathleen Cleaver. Rose Library staff packed the collection at Kathleen Cleaver's home and transferred it to the library. From 2017-2020, prior to the Rose Library's acquisition of the material, a team organized, labeled, and inventoried the photographs in the collection, including rehousing them in archival sleeves and boxes. Dr. Leigh Raiford lead a team of faculty, archival professionals, and artists from a variety of institutions. This team included Stephanie Alvarado, Dr. Lia Bascomb, Dr. Robin Hayes, Sierra King, Delphine Sims, John Stephens, and Tierra Thomas.
Citation
[after identification of item(s)], Kathleen Cleaver papers, Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University.
Appraisal Note
Curator of African American Collections, Pellom McDaniels, III, acquired the collection as part of the Rose Library's holdings in Civil Rights and Post-Civil Rights Movements history. Archivists have retained all material received with the collection.
Processing
Arranged and described at the collection level by Meaghan O'Riordan, March 2020.
This finding aid may include language that is offensive or harmful. Please refer to the Rose Library's harmful language statement for more information about why such language may appear and ongoing efforts to remediate racist, ableist, sexist, homophobic, euphemistic and other oppressive language. If you are concerned about language used in this finding aid, please contact us at rose.library@emory.edu.
Collection Description
Biographical Note
Kathleen Neal Cleaver (1945-) was born in Dallas, Texas, to activists. In 1948, Cleaver's father, Ernest Neal, accepted a job as the director of the Rural Life Council of Tuskegee Institute in Alabama. In 1954, Ernest joined the Foreign Service. The family moved abroad and lived in such countries as India, Liberia, Sierra Leone, and the Philippines. They returned to the United States after Cleaver's brother died from leukemia.
Cleaver graduated from George School, a Quaker boarding school in Newton, Pennsylvania, in 1963. She continued her education at Oberlin College (Ohio) and later transferred to Barnard College (New York, New York). In 1966, she left college for a secretarial job with the New York office of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) after her friend from childhood, Sammy Younge, was murdered by white supremacists.
At a student conference at Fisk University (Nashville, Tennessee), Cleaver met the Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party, Eldridge Cleaver (1935-1998), a speaker at the conference. Kathleen moved to San Francisco, California, in November 1967 to join the Black Panther Party and married Eldridge in December that same year. Cleaver became the Communications Secretary and the first female member of the Party's decision-making body, the Central Committee. She organized the national campaign to free the Party's Minister of Defense, Huey Newton, who was jailed and charged for killing an Oakland (California) police officer.
In 1968, Eldridge Cleaver was charged with attempted murder after a shootout with Oakland police officers, during which fellow Black Party Panther member Bobby Hutton was killed. He fled to Cuba and later Algeria. Kathleen reunited with Eldridge in Algeria in 1969 and gave birth to their son, Ahmad Maceo (1969-2018). In 1970 in North Korea, she gave birth to their daughter, Jojuyounghi Cleaver.
Kathleen Cleaver attended Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut) from 1981-1984, completing a Bachelor of Arts in history. In 1987, she divorced Eldridge Cleaver. She continued her education at Yale Law School, earning a J.D. in 1989. After graduating, Cleaver worked for the law firm of Carvath, Swaine & Moore (New York, New York). Later, she served as a law clerk in the United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She served as a faculty member at several different colleges and law schools, including the Benjamin N. Cardozo School of Law (New York New York), the Graduate School of Yale University (New Haven, Connecticut), and Sarah Lawrence College (Yonkers, New York). Cleaver joined the faculty at Emory University School of Law (Atlanta, Georgia) in 1992. In addition to her teaching career, she continued her work as an activist for prison reform, including freedom for death-row inmate Mumia Abu-Jamal and habeas corpus for Geronimo Pratt.
Scope and Content Note
The collection consists of the papers of African American activist and lawyer, Kathleen Cleaver, and includes photographs, printed material, audiovisual and born digital material, books and periodicals, writings, subject files, and correspondence. It includes extensive files documenting her speaking engagements and activism, and manuscript drafts of her unpublished memoir, Memories of Love & War. The collection also contains internal documentation on the Black Panther Party's activities, including material relating to the International Section. Also included are a significant number of photographs, including family photographs with Eldridge Cleaver and their children, and a number of photographs of Black Panther activities and associates. Audiovisual material includes films from the time that Kathleen and Eldridge spent in Algeria in the 1970s, as well as speeches, lectures, and interviews by notable civil rights figures, such as Malcolm X, Bobby Seale, Huey Newton, Fred Hampton, Stokely Carmichael, and Robert F. Williams.
Arrangement Note
Arranged by record type. Items remain in original physical order but are arranged alphabetically by type in the container list to facilitate access.
Selected Search Terms
Personal Names
- Abu-Jamal, Mumia
- Carmichael, Stokely, 1941-1998
- Cleaver, Eldridge, 1935-1998
- Hampton, Fred, 1948-1969
- Seale, Bobby, 1936-
- Newton, Huey P.
- Williams, Robert F. (Robert Franklin), 1925-1996
- X, Malcolm, 1925-1965
Corporate Names
Topical Terms
- African American women civil rights workers
- African American women lawyers
- African American women political activists
- African Americans--Civil rights--20th century
- African Americans--Political activity
- African Americans--Politics and government--20th century
- Black militant organizations--United States--20th century
- Black nationalism--United States--20th century
- Black power--United States--20th century
- Civil rights movements--United States--20th century
- Civil rights workers--United States--20th century
Geographic Names
Form/Genre Terms
Occupation
Container List
Box | Folder | Content |
---|---|---|
48 | - | Address books, circa 1968-2016 |
51 | - | Address books and notebooks, undated |
50 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes [7], circa 1965-2010 |
41 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes [83], circa 1980s-1990s |
66 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes, DVD, and CDs, 1960-2000 |
55 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassettes [25], DVDs [7], and videocassette tapes [14], 1993-2006 |
48 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes [13], microcassette tape [1], 8mm video tape [1],and reel-to-reel tapes [10], circa, 1968-2016 |
54 | - | Audiovisual material, DVDs [1], microcassette tapes [2], and videocassette tapes [19], undated |
35 | - | Audiovisual material, DVDs [10] and videocassette tapes [37], circa 1997 |
11 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel recorder, undated |
15 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [21], circa 1967-1968 |
23 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [35], circa 1967-1968 |
52 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [33], 1967-1971 |
49 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [43], circa 1968 |
53 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [35], 1968-1971 |
18 | - | Audiovisual material, reel-to-reel tapes [39], circa 1970s |
30 | - | Audiovisual material, videocassette tapes [29], circa 1980s-1990s |
27 | - | Audiovisual material, videocassette tapes [40], Eldridge Cleaver, circa 1980s-1990s |
98 | - | Audiovisual material, CD [1] and reel-to-reel tapes [3], and born digital material, floppy disks [30], circa 1966-2003 |
56 | - | Audiovisual material, videocassette tapes [20], printed material, and correspondence, 1985-2007 |
72 | - | Audiovisual material, audiocassettes, writings, and correspondence, 1960s-1980s |
110 | - | Books, undated |
112 | - | Books, undated |
113 | - | Books, undated |
115 | - | Books, undated |
111 | - | Books and periodicals, undated |
114 | - | Books, periodicals, and Black Panther Party newspapers, undated |
50 | - | Born digital material, CDs [5], circa 2010 |
48 | - | Born digital material, floppy disks [75], circa 1968-2016 |
84 | - | Correspondence and clippings, 1980-2000 |
29 | - | Correspondence and legal papers, circa 2005 |
13 | - | Correspondence and notes, 1963-1974 |
33 | - | Correspondence and photographs, 2009-2015 |
21 | - | Correspondence and printed material, circa 2011 |
39 | - | Correspondence and printed material, 2014-2016 |
38 | - | Correspondence, printed material, and born digital material, floppy disk [1], circa 2016-2017 |
83 | - | Correspondence, printed material, and obituaries, circa 2016 |
94 | - | Correspondence, printed material, periodicals, and clippings, 1946-2019 |
85 | - | Correspondence, printed material, and photographs, 1960-1980 |
88 | - | Correspondence, printed material, and photographs, 1980-1982 |
82 | - | Correspondence, printed material, and subject files: Pearl Juette Johnson Neal, 1990-1991 |
22 | - | Correspondence and subject files: the Cleaver family, 1996-2005 |
24 | - | Correspondence and subject files: Geronimo Pratt, 1996-1997 |
89 | - | Correspondence, women’s retreat, subject files, and Black Panther Party tape list, undated |
31 | - |
"Events database (box 2 of 3)," 1999-2003
Cleaver organized material related to her speaking engagements in binders labeled "Events database." |
45 | - |
"Events database (box 3 of 3)," 2004-2011
Cleaver organized material related to her speaking engagements in binders labeled "Events database." |
104 | - | Greeting cards and subject files, 1979-2015 |
14 | - | International Human Rights, Summer Love Policy Study in Rio files and audiovisual material, DVDs [3], 2006-2007 |
79 | - | Journals and reading notes in binders, 1963-1997 |
16 | - | Legal papers, undated |
36 | - | Legal papers and correspondence, 1970-1977 |
25 | - | Legal papers, correspondence, and audiovisual material, videocassette tape [1], 2005-2008 |
15 | - | "Media/Communications Database," subject files, printed material, writings, and transcripts, 1995-1997 |
76 | - | "Media/Communications Database," subject files, correspondence, and Target Zero, 2000-2005 |
26 | - | "Media/Communications Database," subject files, printed material, writings, and transcripts, 2006-2013 |
32 | - | "Miscellaneous database," 1947-2007 |
101 | - | Notebooks, address books, and printed material, circa 1996 |
12 | - | Notes, correspondence, and subject files: the Cleaver family, 1973-1977 |
1 | - | Photograph albums, circa 1930s |
97 | - | Photograph album, 1954-1958 |
109 | - | Photograph albums, circa 1970-1990 |
37 | - | Photograph albums, correspondence, and printed material, 1960-1970 |
106 | - | Photograph albums and posters, 1951-1970 |
46 | - | Photograph albums and scrapbooks, 1943-1989 |
43 | - | Photograph albums and scrapbooks, 1970-1990 |
40 | - | Photograph albums and scrapbooks, circa 1985-1987 |
17 | - | Photographs, circa 1900s-2000s |
5 | - | Photographs, circa 1920s-1990s |
3 | - | Photographs, circa 1960s-1980s |
4 | - | Photographs, circa 1960s-1990s |
19 | - | Photographs, circa 1980s-2000s |
2 | - | Photographs, family, circa 1980s |
20 | - | Photographs, Neal and Johnson family, circa 1900s-1950s |
42 | - | Photographs, negatives, slides, correspondence, yearbooks, and born digital material, CDs [2], 1947-2003 |
47 | - | Photographs, photograph albums, and scrapbooks, circa 1900-2000 |
116 | - | Photographs and printed material, circa 1900-2011 |
108 | - | Posters, 1997-2011 |
7 | - | Printed material, 1964-1975 |
100 | - | Printed material, 1993-2009 |
99 | - | Printed material and audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes [3], 1995-2005 |
107 | - | Printed material and photographs, circa 2000 |
57 | - |
Printed material, photographs, correspondence, and writings, 1989-2018
Correspondence includes a significant amount written to Dorothy J. (Johnson) Samuel |
105 | - | Printed material and scrapbook, 1972-1996 |
8 | - | Printed material and subject files, 1967-1968 |
98 | - | Samuel, Dorothy J. (Johnson), photographs, correspondence, and scrapbook, circa 1966-2003 |
9 | - | Scrapbooks, 1968-1987 |
21 | - | Scrapbook, circa 1980 |
10 | - | Scrapbooks, 1984-1991 |
55 | - | Slides, circa 1993-2006 |
50 | - | Slides, correspondence, and subject files, 1965-2010 |
44 | - | Slides photograph albums, and correspondence, 1971-1998 |
34 | - | Subject files, 1968-1994 |
87 | - | Subject files, 1970-1986 |
86 | - | Subject files, 1988-1991 |
11 | - | Subject files, conferences, symposiums, and lectures, 1973-1998 |
102 | - | Subject files and correspondence, 1987-2012 |
61 | - | Subject files, correspondence, and writings, 1969-2013 |
6 | - | Subject files: Kathleen Cleaver, printed material, and correspondence, 1977-1998 |
81 | - | Subject files, printed material, and clippings, undated |
103 | - | Subject files, printed material, correspondence, and born digital material, floppy disk [1], 1984-2006 |
62 | - | Subject files and writings, Target Zero, 1969-2013 |
96 | - | Subject files, writings, and clippings, 1966-2007 |
28 | - | Teaching files, circa 2006 |
67 | - | Writings, and audiovisual material, audiocassette tapes and DVDs, 1960s-2000s |
58 | - | Writings, correspondence, and born digital material, floppy disks and CDs, 1966-2007 |
93 | - | Writings, correspondence, and clippings, 1996-2007 |
70 | - | Writings, correspondence, and drafts of book chapters, circa 1970s |
68 | - | Writings, correspondence, and subject files, 1960-2016 |
63 | - | Writings, correspondence, and subject files, circa 1970s-2013 |
78 | - | Writings, correspondence, subject files, and newspaper clippings, 1965-2012 |
75 | - | Writings, correspondence, and Target Zero drafts, 1990-2000 |
90 | - | Writings by Eldridge Cleaver, correspondence, and clippings, 1968-2011 |
91 | - | Writings by Eldridge Cleaver, printed material, clippings, periodicals, and photograph album, 1970-2011 |
64 | - | Writings, Eldridge Cleaver and Target Zero, printed material, and born digital material, floppy disks and CDs, undated |
73 | - | Writings, legal documents, and correspondence, about Eldridge Cleaver, 1955-1975 |
71 | - | Writings, "Memories of Love and War," project, undated |
74 | - | Writings, “Memories of Love and War,” drafts, undated |
77 | - | Writings, “Memories of Love and War,” and correspondence, 1975-2018 |
95 | - | Writings, periodicals, and subject files, 1966-2007 |
92 | - | Writings, printed material, and audiovisual material, DVDs [4], CD [1], videocassette tape [1], and mini audiocassette tape [1], 1981-1995 |
65 | - | Writings, printed material, correspondence, speeches, and drafts of book chapters, undated |
80 | - | Writings and subject files, circa 1970s-2001 |
59 | - | Writings, subject files, and audiocassette tapes regarding Eldridge Cleaver, undated |
60 | - | Writings, subject files, and book prospectus, undated |
69 | - | Writings, subject files, and drafts of book chapters, 1991-2017 |