SHORT TAKES : Black Panther Archives Rescued
Former Black Panther leader Eldridge Cleaver paid $500 to retrieve a set of documents he says “will tell the story that hasn’t been told,” about the now-defunct militant group.
Cartons of Cleaver’s books, files and other belongings were nearly sold by the AAAAA Rent-A-Space company last month for $25. Cleaver, 55, owed more than $900 in overdue rental fees.
But the documents were returned to Cleaver on Monday after he agreed to pay the storage company $500.
“This is the most comprehensive collection in private hands of what the Black Panther Party was up to,” Cleaver said.
“This will tell the story that hasn’t been told . . . and will be a vindication of a lot of slander and lies that have been told about me personally,” he said.
Cleaver, one of the founders of the Oakland-based Black Panthers in 1966, said the items include photographs, papers and pamphlets documenting the group’s activities between 1966 and 1975.
Cleaver said he will donate them to the Bancroft Library at UC Berkeley.
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