Remembering Black Revolutionary Sam Greenlee - R.I.P.

From [HERE] and [HERE] Poet and novelist Sam Greenlee has died in Chicago at the age of 83.

He was best known for his 1969 novel “The Spook Who Sat by the Door,” which was later adapted into a political drama movie.

Pemon Rami, a friend who also was a cast member in the movie, said Mr. Greenlee died early Monday.

Mr. Greenlee was one of the first African Americans to join the U.S. foreign service. From 1957 to 1965, he worked for the U.S. Information Agency, serving in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia and Greece.

“The Spook Who Sat by the Door” tells the story of a black CIA agent who becomes a revolutionary training young Chicago blacks for a violent rebellion. 

He was born in Chicago, attended the University of Wisconsin and the University of Chicago  He is a member of Kappa Alpha Psi fraternity. He served in the military (1952-4), earning the rank of first lieutenant, and subsequently worked for the United States Information Agency, serving in Iraq, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Greece between 1957 and 1965.

Leaving the US foreign service after eight years, he stayed on in Greece.  on the island of Mykonos, where he began to write his first novel published in 1969 as "The Spook Who sat by the Door", the story of a black man who is recruited as a CIA agent and having mastered the skills of a spy then uses them to lead a black guerrilla movement in the US. Mr. Greenlee’s other works included “Baghdad Blues,” in which he described witnessing the 1958 revolution that brought down Iraq’s British-backed monarchy.