Clifton DeBerry
Clifton DeBerry (September 18, 1923 – March 24, 2006) was an American
Biography
Early years
Clifton DeBerry was born in September 1923 in Holly Springs, Mississippi.[1] He worked as a house painter and was a trade unionist.[2]
In the 1940s, DeBerry left his native South and moved to
During his Chicago years in the late 1950s, DeBerry found it hard to keep a job. "I would get a job and it would last only 3 days. I would go from one job to another. The
Political career
DeBerry's career as a political activist began in earnest in the 1950s. In 1955 he helped organize a mass protest in Chicago to protest the lynching of Emmett Till back home in his native Mississippi.[3] DeBerry spoke out in defense of the Cuban Revolution, in support of African liberation struggles, and demanded withdrawal of U.S. troops from Vietnam.
DeBerry marched for
In November 1963, DeBerry ran for councilman in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. He received 3,514 votes in the race.[6][7]
DeBerry was the Socialist Workers Party's candidate in the
.In the 1965 city election, DeBerry was the SWP's candidate for
In 1970, he ran for Governor of New York and polled 5,766 votes.
DeBerry ran again in the
Death and legacy
Clifton DeBerry died of heart failure on March 24, 2006 in a hospital near his home of Union City, California.[3] He was 82 years old. A memorial meeting was held in his honor by the Socialist Workers Party in New York City on April 29, 2006.
Footnotes
- ^ Our Campaigns: Clifton DeBerry
- ^ a b Socialist Workers Party Election Platform. New York: Socialist Workers Party, April 1964. Page 1.
- ^ a b c d e f Joel Britton, "Meeting Set to Celebrate Life of SWP leader Clifton DeBerry," The Militant, vol. 70, no. 14 (April 10, 2006). Online at http://www.themilitant.com/2006/7014/701405.html.
- ^ James Kirkpatrick Davis, Spying on America: The FBI's Domestic Counterintelligence Program. Westport, CT: Praeger Publishers, 1992. Page 61.
- ^ Stone, Betsey (January 17, 2011). "Carol DeBerry: Decades-long builder of SWP". The Militant. Retrieved December 18, 2023.
- ^ a b Federal Bureau of Investigation, COINTELPRO material, http://www.icdc.com/~paulwolf/cointelpro/swp.htm#deberry.
- ^ "Apathy Marks At-Large Campaign in Brooklyn", New York Times, October 26, 1963
Works by Clifton DeBerry
- Marxism and the Negro Struggle. With Harold Cruse and George Breitman. New York: Pathfinder Press, 1965.
- The Case for an Independent Black Political Party [with] American Politics and the 1968 Presidential Campaign, by Jack Barnes. New York: Socialist Workers Party, 1967.
- Murder in Memphis. Martin Luther King and the future of the Black Liberation Struggle. With Paul Boutelle, George Novack, and Joseph Hansen. New York: Merit Publishers, 1968.
- "Report on Black Struggle," in May 1968 Plenum Material. New York: Socialist Workers Party, 1968.