Don Freeman – Cleveland remembers lifelong revolutionary

Don Freeman

Cleveland — Hundreds of Clevelanders gathered on August 16 to pay tribute to Black liberation freedom fighter Don Freeman, who died on July 21. 

Freeman was born in Cleveland in 1939. He graduated from Glenville High School in 1957 and from Case Western Reserve University in 1961, after which he became a teacher at Kennard Junior High School. 

In 1962 Freeman co-founded the Revolutionary Action Movement. As RAM co-founder Muhammad Ahmad (then known as Max Stanford) explained: “It was the first revolutionary nationalist organization to emerge in the 1960s and the first Black organization to advocate revolutionary violence against the capitalist system. It was the prototype for later developments such as the Black Panther Party, the Republic of New Africa, the League of Revolutionary Black Workers and the African Peoples Party.” (freedomarchives.org)

Freeman was a close associate of Malcolm X.

For his activism and for teaching a truthful version of Black History, Freeman was fired from the Cleveland City School District in 1965. Accused of teaching “Black supremacy,” he filed a lawsuit against the District.

After losing his teaching job, Freeman became director of the League Park Center in Cleveland’s Hough neighborhood, the site in 1966 of one of many numerous rebellions against racism during the 1960s. Freeman stayed at League Park until his retirement in 2004.

In 1965, Don and Norma Jean Freeman, who Don lovingly referred to as his “soulmate” until and after her death in 2019, were married. Norma Jean Freeman was a dedicated Black Liberation and social justice activist in her own right, and in 1968, the two founded “Vibration” magazine, which remained in publication until shortly before Don Freeman’s death.

Over the years Don Freeman founded School Without Walls, the Black Youth Cleveland State University Conferences, Black Communiversity and the Committee for Social Justice. 

In 2015, Freeman, who remained a resident of the Glenville neighborhood throughout his life, spoke to Workers World about the 1968 Glenville Rebellion: “Believe it or not, it’s worse now. There was no killing of 12-year-olds like Tamir Rice. It has taken the three deaths — Michael Brown, Eric Garner and Tamir Rice — to bring the anger of African-American people and our allies into the streets to say, ‘No more!’ Whether it makes a difference will depend on the movement not fading.” (workers.org/2015/01/18119/)

The memorial for Freeman took place at Cory United Methodist Church, a historic institution in Cleveland’s African American community. Marcus Garvey and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. both spoke at Cory, and Malcolm X gave his famous “The Ballot or the Bullet” speech there on April 3, 1964. The speech was also delivered in Detroit on April 12, 1964.

Speakers at the memorial included Freeman’s brothers Michael Freeman and jazz musician Kamal Abdul-Alim. A third brother, Roger Freeman, is deceased. 

Bilal Freeman, one of Freeman’s three sons, read a poem with the audience written by Don Freeman, which paid tribute to John Coltrane’s “A Love Supreme.” Don Freeman’s love of jazz was referred to by multiple speakers.

Cory’s pastor, Rev.Darlene Robinson welcomed people to the church. Other founders of RAM spoke or sent written messages to the memorial. The acapella quartet “Hue People” performed the Black national anthem, “Lift Every Voice and Sing.” Navasha Day lit a unity candle, poured a libation and presented a musical tribute. 

The handout program included “Sayings of Brother Don,” such as, “Keep the faith, and continue the struggle!”