Biography
Elliott James Barkley, known as L.D., was an incarcerated organizer and spokesperson during the September 1971 Attica prison uprising. He read the prisoners' declaration calling for humane treatment and an end to abuse. He was killed during the state's armed retaking of the prison on September 13, 1971.
Barkley was already imprisoned before the uprising. In a recorded 1971 interview, lawyer and Attica observer Herman Schwartz described his return to prison for driving without a license while on parole. This profile records his political organizing in custody; it does not characterize his original conviction as a prosecution for political activity. His exact custody start date and full sentence history remain unresolved.
The October 8, 1971 Militant reports that Elliott James Barkley, known as L.D., was twenty-one, grew up in Rochester, and was first imprisoned at eighteen over an alleged $124.60 money-order forgery. It describes parole followed by return for driving without a license, his election to the Attica negotiating council, and a funeral attended by more than one thousand people on September 20. These ages and allegations remain attributed rather than converted to exact birth or arrest dates. Source: https://www.themilitant.com/1971/3536/MIL3536.pdf#page=10
The primer reproduces the September 9, 1971 declaration read by L.D. Barkley, demanding humane treatment, amnesty and protection against reprisals. Its memorial roster uses Elliott (L.D.) Barkley, and the Richard Clark interview introduction says Barkley was marked as a leader and did not survive September 13. The attributed account supports the existing death chronology; the declaration’s demand for transport abroad was not an actual release or exile.
Attica Prison Uprising 101: A Short Primer (Project NIA, September 2011), PDF page 21.
