[News] Mabel Williams & Kathleen Cleaver Speak

[News at freedomarchives.org]

The Freedom Archives, EastSide Arts Alliance, and Malcolm X Grassroots 
Movement present


"SELF RESPECT, SELF DEFENSE & SELF DETERMINATION"
Mabel Williams & Kathleen Cleaver Speak

Sunday, March 14th, 2004     7:00 PM
First Congregational Church (27th & Harrison) in Oakland
$10.00/$5.00 students

No one turned away due to lack of funds

The Freedom Archives, EastSide Arts Alliance, Malcolm X Grassroots 
Movement, along with Hard Knock Radio (KPFA) and other community activists 
are sponsoring a rare speaking appearance with Mabel Williams and Kathleen 
Cleaver which focuses on the history and emergence of the Black Power 
movement, self-defense as a human right, and their roles as leading women 
in the Black liberation struggle.  This historic event is the first time 
these two women have appeared together in conversation.

Mabel Williams is the widow of the late Robert Franklin Williams, the 
author of Negroes with Guns, a book that describes their activities in the 
civil rights struggle in Monroe, NC during the 1950s and early 1960s. They 
were both exiled with their two sons from 1961-69 in Cuba and the People's 
Republic of China. She traveled internationally with Robert to such places 
as Hanoi, Moscow and Tanzania. They returned to the US in 1969 and 
continued their struggle for human and civil rights until Robert's passing 
in 1996. As a result of her lifelong commitment to the human rights 
struggle, Mabel makes a unique contribution to this history. Mabel 
participated in the creation of their newsletter - The Crusader, and the 
radio program - Radio Free Dixie, which emanated from Cuba and could be 
heard throughout the South in the 60s. Mabel continues to be actively 
engaged in her community and is promoting the legacy of Idlewild, Michigan, 
a Black resort area was the only place where Blacks in the Midwest could go 
for family entertainment during the 1940s and 1950s during the segregation era.

Kathleen Cleaver, a major voice in the Black liberation movements of the 
1960s and 70s, continues today, to speak out against racism, sexism and 
economic inequality. In 1966, Cleaver fist became active in the Student 
Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC). From 1967 to 1971, she was the 
Communications Secretary of the Black Panther Party and the first woman 
member of its Central Committee. After sharing years of exile with her 
former husband Eldridge Cleaver, she returned to the United States in late 
1975. Since graduating from Yale Law School in 1987, Cleaver has combined 
legal work, teaching and activism. She has taught at numerous universities 
including Emory, Yale and Sara Lawrence. She served on the Georgia Supreme 
Court Commission on Racial and Ethnic Bias in the Courts and became a Board 
Member of the Atlanta-based Southern Center for Human Rights. She has been 
active in the campaigns to free death row prisoner Mumia Abu-Jamal and 
former Panther Geronimo Pratt (released in 1997). Her writings and essays 
have appeared in numerous magazines, books and newspapers and her memoir, 
Memories of Love and War, is forthcoming from Random House.

ADDITIONAL CONTACTS ARE:
ß Kali Acuno - Malcolm X Grassroots Movement 510-433-0115
ß Greg Morozumi / Elena Serrano -  EastSide Arts Alliance ­ 510-533-6629






The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org

The Freedom Archives
522 Valencia Street
San Francisco, CA 94110
(415) 863-9977
www.freedomarchives.org  
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