In November 1969, Eldridge Cleaver’s essay “Education and Revolution” was published in The Black Scholar, a progressive journal that takes a black perspective on such issues as education, culture, and politics. Cleaver at the time was a member of the Black Panther Party, a militant revolutionary organization founded earlier in the decade. The initial goal of the Black Panthers was to promote selfdefense in the black community at a time when many urban blacks saw police forces as oppressive and racist. In time, the Black Panthers broadened their goals to include charitable work, principally by providing schoolchildren with breakfasts, and efforts to promote black self-awareness in the schools. The Black Panthers were also strong advocates of Socialism as a mode of social organization. In his essay, Cleaver articulates the Socialist goals of the Black Panthers and explains why, from his perspective, the black community has to take charge of its children’s education as a means of overthrowing an oppressive capitalist system.