biography
| sex:
| male
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| lived:
| (1935– )
|
| biography:
| Social activist and writer, born in Wabbeseka, Arkansas, USA. Convicted on a marijuana charge (1954), he began a 12-year cycle of prison terms. During this time he obtained a high school diploma, converted to the Black Muslim faith, and began to write. He was a staff writer for Ramparts magazine (1966) and became a much-publicized college lecturer after the release of Soul on Ice (1968), a seminal work on the black experience. He fled the USA (1969) to escape a prison sentence resulting from an alleged shooting incident with the Oakland police. Living in several third-world countries, including Algeria, he returned to the USA (1979) after battling the Algerian authorities over his connection with an alleged skyjacking incident. Pleading guilty to assaulting an Oakland police officer, he was placed on probation and ordered to do 2000 hours of community service. He became a ‘born-again’ Christian, and by 1982 had become an ardent supporter of the USA. |
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