Early Life
Born in Wabbaseka, Arkansas, as a child Cleaver moved with his family to Phoenix and then to Los Angeles. In 1967 he married Kathleen Neal Cleaver; they divorced in 1987. They had a son, Ahmad Maceo Eldridge Cleaver, and a daughter, Joju Younghi Cleaver.
As a teenager he was involved in petty crime and spent time in detention centers. At the age of eighteen he was convicted of a felony drug charge and sent to the adult prison at Soledad. In 1958, he was further convicted of rape and assault with intent to murder and eventually served time in Folsom and San Quentin prisons.
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