LEST YOU FORGET: WOMEN LED BLACK PANTHERS, TOO
<http://www.insidedenver.com/drmn/local/article/0%2C1299%2CDRMN_15_12407%2C00.html>
by Bob Jackson, News Staff Writer
Friday, February 2, 2001
History might not remember that women wielded great power in the
Black Panther Party, but Kathleen Cleaver does.
"One thing needs to be set straight," Cleaver said Thursday. "Women
did hold high positions in the party. The hierarchy of the Panther
party had more women than the hierarchy of any state legislature or
police department or any other civil-rights organization."
Cleaver, who was recently in Denver to film introductions to a series
of movies on Black Panther history, was the highest-ranking woman in
the Panthers. She was the group's communications secretary from 1967 to
1971.
A lawyer, writer, historian and scholar, Cleaver was once married to
Eldridge Cleaver, minister of information for the Black Panthers.
She is now a law professor at Emory and Cardozo law schools and
serves on the faculty of Sarah Lawrence College and the Yale University
graduate school.
Cleaver is also writing a book, "Memories of Love and War," about her
30-year involvement in the struggle to end colonialism and racism.
"I've had five different fellowships that took care of my expenses
and gave me the free time to work on the book I'm trying to finish,"
she said from her home in Connecticut.
Cleaver filmed her intros at the Gemini Tea Emporium, 2860 Welton St.
The series of movies by Starz Encore channel and BET Movies are called
"Heritage: The Panther Perspective." They will air each Friday during
February, which is Black History Month, on AT&T Digital Channel 535.
Other air dates are Feb. 13 at 7:40 pm; Feb. 19 at 7:50 pm; Feb 23 at
6 pm; and Feb. 27 at 9:30 pm.
"The Heritage series will regularly showcase movies and documentaries
that take a historic look at the contributions and experience of
African-Americans," said Chelsye Burrows, director of multicultural
communications for Encore Media Group.
"It's crucial that people, in particular our youth, develop a sense
of history, a history of how blacks have resisted oppression," Cleaver
said.
It's also important to understand that the goals of the Black
Panthers have yet to be met, she said.
"The community is suffering," Cleaver said. "There is still violence
and terrible housing. There's still oppression and bad health."
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