James Kilgore
| James William Kilgore | |
|---|---|
| Born |
July 30, 1947 Portland, Oregon |
| Residence | Champaign–Urbana, Illinois |
| Nationality | American |
| Other names | John Pape Charles William Pape |
| Alma mater |
UC Santa Barbara Deakin University (Ph.D.) |
| Occupation | Research scholar, social justice activist, author |
| Employer | University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign |
| Known for | Involvement with Symbionese Liberation Army |
| Criminal charge |
Second degree murder Passport fraud Possession of an explosive device |
| Criminal penalty | 6 years in High Desert State Prison 54 month parole term |
| Criminal status | Released and served |
James William Kilgore (born July 30, 1947) was a student activist at UC Santa Barbara in the 1960s who later became involved with the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA). After the arrest of the core SLA members in 1975, Kilgore went underground for 27 years. He lived most of that time in Southern Africa. During his time on the run, Kilgore rejected the politics of violence, building a career as an educator, researcher and activist in Zimbabwe and South Africa. He wrote a number of books and academic articles during that period under the pseudonym John Pape. He was arrested in Cape Town, South Africa, in November 2002, extradited to the United States and subsequently served six and a half years in prison in California. During his incarceration he wrote several novels. The first of these, We Are All Zimbabweans Now, was published a month after his release in 2009 by Umuzi Publishers of Cape Town. He now lives in Champaign-Urbana, Illinois, and teaches at the Center for African Studies. In 2015, he published a non-fiction book, Understanding Mass Incarceration: A People's Guide to the Key Civil Rights Struggle of Our Time.
Kilgore grew up in California, graduating from San Rafael High School in 1965. During his high school days he was an honor-roll student and an active athlete, participating on school basketball, baseball and golf teams. He attended University of California at Santa Barbara, where he played on the college volleyball team and subsequently became active in student politics during the anti-war protests of 1969 and 1970. During these years he met Sara Jane Olson (née Kathleen Soliah), his partner at the time and later political associate in the Symbionese Liberation Army.
After graduating from college, Kilgore and Olson moved to Oakland, California, where he became involved in various political activities. He also visited a number of political activists who were in prison, including Willie Brandt, convicted for his role in anti-war bombings in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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