ABSTRACT
The lynchpin most responsible for securing an at times uneasy coalition was Black Panther Party Minister of Information Eldridge Cleave. Eldridge Cleaver’s involvement in Bay Area activism began with a photograph. In neighboring Oakland, rallies were held to raise awareness and funds to defend Black Panther Party leader Huey P. Newton from charges many felt were contrived. Photographic portraits on posters and campaign buttons were a mainstay in American electoral politics, but glorifying individuals in a public display of support, as the Black Panthers under Cleaver’s direction would do, was unprecedented. A planning session was underway in San Francisco at the Black House, with Cleaver presiding, when everyone’s attention riveted to new arrivals. A regular feature of The Black Panther, mounted as a poster in Panther offices, waved at demonstrations, the tiny photograph became a larger than life-sized reminder that the fate of a young brother was at stake.
