Albert Cleage

Who was Albert Cleage?

Albert B. Cleage, Jr. was a Christian religious leader, political candidate, newspaper publisher, political organizer and author. He is founder of the Shrine of the Black Madonna Church and Cultural Centers in Detroit, Michigan and Atlanta, Georgia. Cleage, who changed his name to Jaramogi Abebe Agyeman in the early 1970s, played an important role in the civil rights movement in Detroit during the 1960s and 1970s. He became increasingly involved with Black Nationalism during the 1970s, rejecting many of the core principles of racial integration. He founded a church-owned farm, Beulah Land, in Calhoun Falls, South Carolina, and spent most of his last years there, dying in 2000. He was the father of writer Pearl Cleage.