C. L. Bryant

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C. L. Bryant
C. L. Bryant by Gage Skidmore.jpg
Bryant in 2012
Born
Cleon Lewis Bryant

(1956-03-28) March 28, 1956 (age 65)
Shreveport, Louisiana
Alma materFair Park High School
Louisiana State University in Shreveport (BA)
OccupationClergyman
Former radio talk show host
Political partyRepublican
Spouse(s)Jane Carline Pruitt
Children4

Cleon Lewis Bryant (born March 28, 1956) is an American Baptist minister and former radio and television host based in Jensen Beach, Florida.

He is a senior fellow at FreedomWorks, a conservative advocacy group.

Background[]

C.L. Bryant was born on March 28, 1956 to Lewis C. Bryant, a World War II veteran, and Elnola Goode, a native of De Soto Parish.

Bryant was one of the first black children to attend Lake Shore Junior High School in Shreveport at the beginning of school desegregation in the late 1960s. He graduated in 1974 from Fair Park High School in Shreveport, along with Fox Sports announcer Tim Brando.[1]

Bryant attended Louisiana State University in Shreveport, Bishop College in Texas and Tampa College in Tampa; the latter two of which are defunct. He received a master of theology degree from Shreveport Bible College and was ordained into the ministry by Reverend E. Edward Jones of Shreveport, a civil rights activist and pastor for fifty-seven years of the Galilee Missionary Baptist Church in Shreveport.

Career[]

Bryant has spent nearly four decades in the ministry, including a missionary stint to the Amazon section of South America. He has also worked for twenty-five years in the field of finance. His current church affiliation is the inter-denominational Word of God Ministries in Shreveport with pastor James A. McMenis.[2]

Bryant has served in several church positions, beginning in Longview, Texas, where his congregation received financial assistance from the late Shreveport philanthropist Virginia Shehee, a former member of the Louisiana State Senate.[3] At the time of his mother's death in 2005, Bryant was pastor of the Cedar Hill Baptist Church in Grand Cane in DeSoto Parish south of Shreveport.[4]

Bryant's radio program, The C. L. Bryant Show, aired from 2015 to 2017.

Bryant is a senior fellow at FreedomWorks in Washington, D.C., and a member of the Republican Party, which he has defended against allegations of racism.[5]

In March 2012, Bryant criticized Jesse Jackson and Al Sharpton for their roles in protests stemming from the controversial killing of Trayvon Martin in Florida.[6]

Bryant is the founder of "One Nation Back to God." In 2012, he produced and released the independent documentary, Runaway Slave. Bryant commented that the film was "a movie about the race to free the black community from the slavery of tyranny and progressive policies."[6][7][8] In 2010, Bryant penned the non-fiction book, Lead Us to Temptation, Deliver Us to Evil.[9]

On January 19, 2016, Bryant endorsed Senator Ted Cruz of Texas for the Republican presidential nomination.[10] He then endorsed the eventual nominee and election winner, President Donald Trump and defended Trump against allegations raised by his critics on the radio program.

Personal life[]

Bryant is married to the former Jane Carline Pruitt. They live in Grand Cane, Louisiana. The couple has four children and eleven grandchildren.

The couple formerly resided in Tampa, Florida.

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ "Cleon Bryant (Class of 1974)". classmates.com. Retrieved April 30, 2015.
  2. ^ "C. L. Bryant". FreedomWorks. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  3. ^ The C. L. Bryant Show, July 13, 2015
  4. ^ "Elnola G. Bryant". Findagrave.com. Archived from the original on February 27, 2017. Retrieved February 20, 2017.
  5. ^ "Michelle Obama Rouses NAACP Before Vote Condemning 'Racist' Elements of Tea Party", ABC News, July 12, 2010
  6. ^ a b "New York Post's Trayvon Martin Front Page Calls Hooded Lawmakers 'Race Hustlers', Huffington Post, March 27, 2012
  7. ^ "Runaway Slave". Internet Movie Data Base. April 30, 2015.
  8. ^ Carter, R.J. "C.L. Bryant: Breaking the New Chains with "Runaway Slave"". CriticalBlast.com. Retrieved 4 May 2016.
  9. ^ Lead Us to Temptation, Deliver Us to Evil. Slaithwaite, West Yorkshire, England: RAS Publishing. 2010. p. 102. ISBN 978-0615427904. Retrieved May 1, 2015.
  10. ^ KEEL (AM) Radio, January 19, 2016
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