John Jefferson Poland, AKA Jefferson Poland, Jeff F**k Poland, Jefferson Cl*tl*ck, Jomo Kabouter, Tortuga Bi Liberty, and other *nomes de plume*, was a lifelong social and political activist.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jefferson, as he would later be best known, traveled across America during his childhood with his divorced mother. At 18, he attended Florida State University, but was soon expelled for his integrationist work with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). The following summer, the White teenager participated with the Freedom Riders in Florida and in June, 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.
Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register Black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.
Shortly thereafter, he migrated to New York City, where he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). There he participated in one first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States. Poland, along with organizer Randy Wicker and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's draft records.
Two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Poland and biology professor Leo Koch formed the League for Sexual Freedom, later renamed the Sexual Freedom League. Poland then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University, and organized chapters of the League around the region and state. The League advocated liberal policies regarding marriage, birth control, nudity, homosexuality, and other erotic-related issues, and soon became notorious for the clothing-optional sex parties its chapters would sponsor in university neighborhoods.
On August 25, 1965, Poland and two female companions staged a "Nude Wade-in" at San Francisco's Aquatic Park. The demonstration made headlines across America, and resulted in Poland's arrest -- one of scores that he would endure for his nonviolent protests during his lifetime.
At San Francisco State, Poland and Blair Paltridge published a student magazine called OPEN PROCESS. They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine -- an incident which, along with the rise of Black Power at the campus, touched off a major student revolt that brought opposing academic S.I. Hayakawa to national fame.
Poland, under his various pseudonyms, was a regular contributor to the BERKELEY BARB underground newspaper. A longtime antiwar activist, he was a cosigner of the 1968 "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" statement. That year he also staged a sex orgy at the San Francisco Diggers' "Free City Convention" concert featuring the Grateful Dead, at the Carousel Ballroom.
In 1969 Poland, feeling the Sexual Freedom League had become little more than a suburban swingers' club, founded the more radical Psychedelic Venus Church. One of the first organized neo-Pagan sects in America, the Church viewed cannabis as a sacrament, and used it, along with nudity and sexual activities, in its rites. At one point the Church claimed 700-1200 members, but it was disestablished in 1974.
Around 1975 Poland migrated to San Diego, California, where he carried on his pro-body/-sexuality activism. In 1983 he was charged with molesting a pre-teen daughter of a friend; Poland fled the country and lived five years on the run in Asia. Arrested in Hawaii in 1988, he was brought back to San Diego, and sentenced to one year in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
In the 1990s Poland returned to the Bay Area, and spent the rest of his life in San Francisco. Mostly forgotten by the media and the activist worlds, he distanced himself from his previous identity by taking on the "Tortuga Bi Liberty" pseudonym. Tortuga/Jefferson continued to agitate for body- and sexual-freedom around the Bay Area, often appearing nude and carrying placards at such public events as the Pride Parade, Bay to Breakers, and the Folsom Street Festival.
On November 17, 2017 Poland, who was in poor health, was rushed to San Francisco's Zuckerberg General Hospital. There he passed on from the complications of sepsis and hemorrhagic shock, aged 75. His remains were cremated by the County, and transferred to a close friend who was the executor of his meager estate.
Jefferson Poland donated his personal papers to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, where they can be viewed by researchers. His executor is currently writing a biography of this controversial, troubled, and little-heralded social and cultural radical.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jefferson, as he would later be best known, traveled across America during his childhood with his divorced mother. At 18, he attended Florida State University, but was soon expelled for his integrationist work with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). The following summer, the White teenager participated with the Freedom Riders in Florida and in June, 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.
Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register Black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.
Shortly thereafter, he migrated to New York City, where he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). There he participated in one first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States. Poland, along with organizer Randy Wicker and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's draft records.
Two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Poland and biology professor Leo Koch formed the League for Sexual Freedom, later renamed the Sexual Freedom League. Poland then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University, and organized chapters of the League around the region and state. The League advocated liberal policies regarding marriage, birth control, nudity, homosexuality, and other erotic-related issues, and soon became notorious for the clothing-optional sex parties its chapters would sponsor in university neighborhoods.
On August 25, 1965, Poland and two female companions staged a "Nude Wade-in" at San Francisco's Aquatic Park. The demonstration made headlines across America, and resulted in Poland's arrest -- one of scores that he would endure for his nonviolent protests during his lifetime.
At San Francisco State, Poland and Blair Paltridge published a student magazine called OPEN PROCESS. They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine -- an incident which, along with the rise of Black Power at the campus, touched off a major student revolt that brought opposing academic S.I. Hayakawa to national fame.
Poland, under his various pseudonyms, was a regular contributor to the BERKELEY BARB underground newspaper. A longtime antiwar activist, he was a cosigner of the 1968 "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" statement. That year he also staged a sex orgy at the San Francisco Diggers' "Free City Convention" concert featuring the Grateful Dead, at the Carousel Ballroom.
In 1969 Poland, feeling the Sexual Freedom League had become little more than a suburban swingers' club, founded the more radical Psychedelic Venus Church. One of the first organized neo-Pagan sects in America, the Church viewed cannabis as a sacrament, and used it, along with nudity and sexual activities, in its rites. At one point the Church claimed 700-1200 members, but it was disestablished in 1974.
Around 1975 Poland migrated to San Diego, California, where he carried on his pro-body/-sexuality activism. In 1983 he was charged with molesting a pre-teen daughter of a friend; Poland fled the country and lived five years on the run in Asia. Arrested in Hawaii in 1988, he was brought back to San Diego, and sentenced to one year in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
In the 1990s Poland returned to the Bay Area, and spent the rest of his life in San Francisco. Mostly forgotten by the media and the activist worlds, he distanced himself from his previous identity by taking on the "Tortuga Bi Liberty" pseudonym. Tortuga/Jefferson continued to agitate for body- and sexual-freedom around the Bay Area, often appearing nude and carrying placards at such public events as the Pride Parade, Bay to Breakers, and the Folsom Street Festival.
On November 17, 2017 Poland, who was in poor health, was rushed to San Francisco's Zuckerberg General Hospital. There he passed on from the complications of sepsis and hemorrhagic shock, aged 75. His remains were cremated by the County, and transferred to a close friend who was the executor of his meager estate.
Jefferson Poland donated his personal papers to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, where they can be viewed by researchers. His executor is currently writing a biography of this controversial, troubled, and little-heralded social and cultural radical.
John Jefferson Poland, AKA Jefferson Poland, Jeff F**k Poland, Jefferson Cl*tl*ck, Jomo Kabouter, Tortuga Bi Liberty, and other *nomes de plume*, was a lifelong social and political activist.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jefferson, as he would later be best known, traveled across America during his childhood with his divorced mother. At 18, he attended Florida State University, but was soon expelled for his integrationist work with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). The following summer, the White teenager participated with the Freedom Riders in Florida and in June, 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.
Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register Black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.
Shortly thereafter, he migrated to New York City, where he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). There he participated in one first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States. Poland, along with organizer Randy Wicker and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's draft records.
Two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Poland and biology professor Leo Koch formed the League for Sexual Freedom, later renamed the Sexual Freedom League. Poland then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University, and organized chapters of the League around the region and state. The League advocated liberal policies regarding marriage, birth control, nudity, homosexuality, and other erotic-related issues, and soon became notorious for the clothing-optional sex parties its chapters would sponsor in university neighborhoods.
On August 25, 1965, Poland and two female companions staged a "Nude Wade-in" at San Francisco's Aquatic Park. The demonstration made headlines across America, and resulted in Poland's arrest -- one of scores that he would endure for his nonviolent protests during his lifetime.
At San Francisco State, Poland and Blair Paltridge published a student magazine called OPEN PROCESS. They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine -- an incident which, along with the rise of Black Power at the campus, touched off a major student revolt that brought opposing academic S.I. Hayakawa to national fame.
Poland, under his various pseudonyms, was a regular contributor to the BERKELEY BARB underground newspaper. A longtime antiwar activist, he was a cosigner of the 1968 "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" statement. That year he also staged a sex orgy at the San Francisco Diggers' "Free City Convention" concert featuring the Grateful Dead, at the Carousel Ballroom.
In 1969 Poland, feeling the Sexual Freedom League had become little more than a suburban swingers' club, founded the more radical Psychedelic Venus Church. One of the first organized neo-Pagan sects in America, the Church viewed cannabis as a sacrament, and used it, along with nudity and sexual activities, in its rites. At one point the Church claimed 700-1200 members, but it was disestablished in 1974.
Around 1975 Poland migrated to San Diego, California, where he carried on his pro-body/-sexuality activism. In 1983 he was charged with molesting a pre-teen daughter of a friend; Poland fled the country and lived five years on the run in Asia. Arrested in Hawaii in 1988, he was brought back to San Diego, and sentenced to one year in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
In the 1990s Poland returned to the Bay Area, and spent the rest of his life in San Francisco. Mostly forgotten by the media and the activist worlds, he distanced himself from his previous identity by taking on the "Tortuga Bi Liberty" pseudonym. Tortuga/Jefferson continued to agitate for body- and sexual-freedom around the Bay Area, often appearing nude and carrying placards at such public events as the Pride Parade, Bay to Breakers, and the Folsom Street Festival.
On November 17, 2017 Poland, who was in poor health, was rushed to San Francisco's Zuckerberg General Hospital. There he passed on from the complications of sepsis and hemorrhagic shock, aged 75. His remains were cremated by the County, and transferred to a close friend who was the executor of his meager estate.
Jefferson Poland donated his personal papers to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, where they can be viewed by researchers. His executor is currently writing a biography of this controversial, troubled, and little-heralded social and cultural radical.
Born in Indianapolis, Indiana, Jefferson, as he would later be best known, traveled across America during his childhood with his divorced mother. At 18, he attended Florida State University, but was soon expelled for his integrationist work with the Congress for Racial Equality (CORE). The following summer, the White teenager participated with the Freedom Riders in Florida and in June, 1961 was one of the "Tallahassee Ten" who were arrested for unlawful assembly at a segregated airport restaurant. A year later, he was involved in Ban the Bomb activities.
Poland moved to California and worked as an agricultural labor organizer, renting a room in the home of Dolores Huerta. He worked with CORE to register Black voters in Louisiana in the summer of 1963.
Shortly thereafter, he migrated to New York City, where he joined the Industrial Workers of the World (IWW). There he participated in one first known LGBT rights demonstrations in the United States. Poland, along with organizer Randy Wicker and several others, picketed the Whitehall Induction Center in New York City to protest the US military's exclusion of homosexuals from military service and the violation of confidentiality of gay men's draft records.
Two days after the assassination of John F. Kennedy, Poland and biology professor Leo Koch formed the League for Sexual Freedom, later renamed the Sexual Freedom League. Poland then moved to the San Francisco Bay Area, where he attended San Francisco State University, and organized chapters of the League around the region and state. The League advocated liberal policies regarding marriage, birth control, nudity, homosexuality, and other erotic-related issues, and soon became notorious for the clothing-optional sex parties its chapters would sponsor in university neighborhoods.
On August 25, 1965, Poland and two female companions staged a "Nude Wade-in" at San Francisco's Aquatic Park. The demonstration made headlines across America, and resulted in Poland's arrest -- one of scores that he would endure for his nonviolent protests during his lifetime.
At San Francisco State, Poland and Blair Paltridge published a student magazine called OPEN PROCESS. They were suspended for printing and writing obscene material in the November 14, 1967, issue of the magazine -- an incident which, along with the rise of Black Power at the campus, touched off a major student revolt that brought opposing academic S.I. Hayakawa to national fame.
Poland, under his various pseudonyms, was a regular contributor to the BERKELEY BARB underground newspaper. A longtime antiwar activist, he was a cosigner of the 1968 "Writers and Editors War Tax Protest" statement. That year he also staged a sex orgy at the San Francisco Diggers' "Free City Convention" concert featuring the Grateful Dead, at the Carousel Ballroom.
In 1969 Poland, feeling the Sexual Freedom League had become little more than a suburban swingers' club, founded the more radical Psychedelic Venus Church. One of the first organized neo-Pagan sects in America, the Church viewed cannabis as a sacrament, and used it, along with nudity and sexual activities, in its rites. At one point the Church claimed 700-1200 members, but it was disestablished in 1974.
Around 1975 Poland migrated to San Diego, California, where he carried on his pro-body/-sexuality activism. In 1983 he was charged with molesting a pre-teen daughter of a friend; Poland fled the country and lived five years on the run in Asia. Arrested in Hawaii in 1988, he was brought back to San Diego, and sentenced to one year in prison and lifetime registration as a sex offender.
In the 1990s Poland returned to the Bay Area, and spent the rest of his life in San Francisco. Mostly forgotten by the media and the activist worlds, he distanced himself from his previous identity by taking on the "Tortuga Bi Liberty" pseudonym. Tortuga/Jefferson continued to agitate for body- and sexual-freedom around the Bay Area, often appearing nude and carrying placards at such public events as the Pride Parade, Bay to Breakers, and the Folsom Street Festival.
On November 17, 2017 Poland, who was in poor health, was rushed to San Francisco's Zuckerberg General Hospital. There he passed on from the complications of sepsis and hemorrhagic shock, aged 75. His remains were cremated by the County, and transferred to a close friend who was the executor of his meager estate.
Jefferson Poland donated his personal papers to UC Berkeley's Bancroft Library, where they can be viewed by researchers. His executor is currently writing a biography of this controversial, troubled, and little-heralded social and cultural radical.
Gravesite Details
Some cremains scattered on San Francisco Bay; remainder held by estate.
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