Cleveland Sellers A Living Legend Voices From SNCC

Cleveland “Cleve” Sellers as he was known to the friends he had in the Freedom Movement was a black man built to battle injustice. When Cleveland Sellers arrived on Howard University’s campus in the Fall of 1962, his sole mission was to utterly destroy the barriers of segregation that had infected this nation. He created the organization NAG at Howard University which stood for the Nonviolent Action Group. Cleveland Sellers befriended Stokely Carmichael while at Howard University and both of their lives would never be the same. Cleveland Sellers dedicated those years to the uplift of southern blacks handcuffed by Jim Crow. He was a member of SNCC. He went to McComb, Mississippi and met Amzie Moore and others in that community who nurtured him as he educated them on the rights guaranteed them by US Constitution. When Stokely made his black power speech during the 1966 March Against Fear in Greenwood, Mississippi, Cleveland Sellers was there to support the effort. When Cleveland Sellers returned home in the late 60s’ to South Carolina he was in Orangeburg, South Carolina when 4 students were murdered by the storm troopers of South Carolina. Just like his friend Stokely Carmichael and H. Rap Brown, Cleveland Sellers was charged with inciting a riot and was imprisoned for 7 months. The fact that the charges were trumped up made no difference. He was black and therefore he was presumed guilty. How many young people today don’t know the name Cleveland Sellers and his importance to the rights there enjoy today? Yes, Cleveland Sellers was another passionate, determined, bold black voice of change who represented the uplift of our efforts to achieve racial equality. The voice of SNCC. A voice that should be lifted on the pinnacle of greatness.