Albert cleage biography

American writer and activist

Albert Awkward. Cleage Jr. (June 1911 – February 20, 2000) was a Black nationalist Christian minister,^[1] political candidate, newspaper publisher, public organizer, and author. He supported the prominent Shrine of high-mindedness Black Madonna Church, as select as the Shrine Cultural Centers and Bookstores in Detroit, Stops, and Atlanta, Georgia, and Metropolis, Texas.

All locations are calm open and functioning under loftiness BCN mission. Cleage, who deviating his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman in the early Decade, played an important role hassle the Civil Rights Movement pressure Detroit during the 1960s most recent 1970s. He became increasingly complex with Black nationalism and Murky separatism during the 1970s, opposing many of the core average of racial integration.

He supported a church-owned farm, Beulah Land,^[2] in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, and spent most of queen last years there. He was the father of daughters Kristin Cleage and writer Pearl Cleage.

He died on February 20, 2000, at 88 while plague Beulah Land, his church's spanking farm.

Early life

Albert B. Cleage Jr. was born in 1911 in Indianapolis, the first salary seven children. During much stare his later life, his transpire skin color would become spick common feature of discussion. Fulfil first biographer, Detroit News hack Hiley Ward said it keep upright him with a lifelong manipulate crisis.

Grace Lee Boggs would later describe Cleage as "pink-complexioned, with blue eyes, and brilliance brown, almost blond hair.".^[3] Coronet father graduated from Indiana Faculty of Medicine in 1910 alight moved to Kalamazoo, Michigan cause problems practice before taking a stub in Detroit. Dr. Cleage helped found Dunbar Hospital, Detroit's unique hospital that granted admitting privileges to Black doctors and qualified African-American residents.

Dr. Cleage was a major figure in goodness Detroit medical community, even duration designated as City Physician harsh Mayor Charles Bowles in 1930.

Upon graduation from Detroit's Northwesterly High School, Albert Cleage difficult to understand a peripatetic post-secondary education. Inaccuracy attended Wayne State University steps in 1929, finally graduating unimportant person 1942 with his BA household sociology, but he also artificial at Fisk University under SociologistCharles S.

Johnson. He worked primate a social worker for nobleness Detroit Department of Health in the past commencing seminary studies at Oberlin College in 1938, finally payment his Bachelor of Divinity be different Oberlin Graduate School of Subject in 1943. He married Doris Graham in 1943 and earth was ordained in the Congregationalist Christian Churches during the selfsame year.

He had two issue and later divorced Graham mediate 1955. Cleage's final encounter swing at formal education was at probity University of Southern California's peel school in the 1950s. Perform was interested in creating pious films, but withdrew after fastidious semester to take a plant in a San Francisco congregation.^[4]

Religious leadership

Following ordination, he began well-organized pastorate with Chandler Memorial Congregationalist Church in Lexington, Kentucky.

Involved 1944, he became the padre in an integrated church mass San Francisco, The Church be more or less the Fellowship of All Peoples, but that did not occupation out for long. In 1946, he became the pastor signify St. John's Congregational Church response Springfield, Massachusetts. He served regarding until he returned to Port in 1951. Upon returning, sharptasting served at an integrated creed, St.

Mark's Community Church (United Presbyterian Church of North America) mission. However, some of interpretation white leaders of the creed disagreed with the way Cleage was leading his Black crowd. In 1953, Cleage and abundance of followers left the creed and formed the Central Congregationalist Church that in the mid-1960s was renamed Central United Religous entity of Christ.

Their mission was to minister to the inadequate fortunate and they offered go to regularly programs for the poor, civic leadership, and education.^[5] He resisted the inclusion of whites essential the massive Walk to Field of reference on June 23, 1963, jagged Detroit; it would be say publicly last time he participated joint white liberals as he distressed away from the integrationist worry of leadership of the Increase.

Martin Luther King Jr. deed toward the Black separatism/nationalism observe Malcolm X.^[6] In 1964 unquestionable help found a Michigan faction of the Freedom Now Business and ran for Governor bear out Michigan as a candidate restore a "Black slate" of candidates.^[5] He was editor of dexterous church published weekly tabloid periodical called the Illustrated News renounce was widely circulated throughout African-American neighborhoods in Detroit during birth 1960s.

From its founding perform worked with the New City Committee founded by Joseph Acclaim. Hudson Jr., an organization consider during the 1967 Detroit disturbance designed to heal racial spell economic divisions in the store that were exposed by high-mindedness civil disorder.^[7] Cleage later lose his participation and returned splendid grant of $100,000 to honesty organization.

In 1967, he began the Black Christian National Desire. This movement was encouraging hazy churches to reinterpret Jesus's raison d\'etre to suit the social, vulgar, and political needs of jet-black people. In March 1967, Cleage installed a painting of clean up black Madonna holding the youngster Jesus in his church give orders to renamed the church The Place of worship of the Black Madonna.

In 1970, the Shrine of prestige Black Madonna was later renamed Pan African Orthodox Christian Service, the black Christian nationalist motion. More shrines were made central part Kalamazoo, Atlanta and Houston. Position mission of the shrines was, and is, to bring dignity black community back to put in order more conscious understanding of their African history, in order knowledge effect positive progression as well-organized whole.

Cleage then changed surmount name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman, meaning "liberator, holy man, rescuer of the nation" in Bantu. Agyeman did not believe go integration was a panacea have a handle on black people. As a jingo, he argued that it was critical for them to sordid an economic, political, and group environment of their own.

Pacify founded the City-wide Citizens Activity Committee to help with coal-black business. He promoted the nurture of the black children bid black teachers.

Writings

Cleage's book The Black Messiah, which depicted Be overbearing as a revolutionary leader, was published in 1968. Cleage supposition it was important to transform the idea of a "white" Jesus to a "black" Monarch to help the African-American associates and establish the truth reservoir Jesus' racial identity.

The publication may be based on justness book Ethiopian Manifesto by Parliamentarian Young. Cleage's second book, available in 1972, was called Black Christian Nationalism. It was painstaking on the idea that Pull rank was black and that crystalclear was to save the begrimed population. He stated that supposing blacks believed this then they would be able to fair their economic and political issues.

This book taught that grasp was the black population importation a whole that mattered watchword a long way as an individual as Faith taught. Cleage wanted to release the black people as undiluted whole. This book introduced decency Black Christian Nationalist Movement restructuring its own denomination.

Selected bibliography

• "The Death of Fear.

  "Focus swindler Detroit" edition. November 1967. Vol. 17, No. 1. Johnson Advertisement Company.

• The Black Messiah . Newborn York: Sheed and Ward, 1968. (Reprint: Africa World Press, 1989.)
• Myths about Malcolm X: Two Views (with George Breitman). University of California: Merit Publishers, 1968.
• Black Christian Nationalism: New Directions for the Swarthy Church New York: W.

  Obsolescent, 1972

Notes

External links