Who Is Assata Shakur?

Assata Olugbala Shakur was a revolutionary political activist and organizer. In her life, she played a key role in groups associated with the Black liberation struggle. Most notably, Assata played important roles in both the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army (BLA). The BLA was an underground radical group that advocated for armed struggle for freedom. The BLA formed in 1970 in response to the systemic oppression Black Americans faced at the time. In Assata’s own words, the Black Liberation Army’s goals were to “to create good examples, to struggle for Black freedom, and to prepare for the future” (Assata, 22). 

 

In 1973, Assata Shakur became the victim of a targeted police attack on her life. On a New Jersey turnpike, police officer James Harper pulled Assata’s car over for a supposedly broken taillight—a minor traffic offense that often served as a justification for COINTELPRO operations. Alongside Assata, Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were in the car. The traffic stop proved violent, seeing the death of both Zayd Shakur and officer Werner Foerster, who had backed up trooper Harper. After a long and unfair trial, both Assata Shakur and Sundiata Acoli were convicted of the murder of trooper Foerster, despite medical records that showed Assata was shot twice with her arms raised. 

 

In 1979, fellow members of the Black Liberation Army broke Assata out of jail. Less than five years after her escape, Assata received political asylum in Cuba, where she would live until her death on September 25, 2025. In Cuba, Assata would continue her revolutionary work, publishing her autobiography in 1987. Throughout her life, Assata retained her dignity, revolutionary spirit, and love for people. 

 

Early Life

Assata was born JoAnne Deborah Byron in Queens, New York. The FBI lists her birthday as July 16, 1947, but there are no trustworthy records dating her birth. She spent the majority of her early childhood split between living in Queens with her mother and in Wilmington, North Carolina with her grandparents. At an early age, her grandmother instilled a profound dignity in Assata, making sure that Assata never viewed herself as subordinated to others. Though this dignity played an essential role in forming her revolutionary political identity, it unfortunately also led to many unfortunate run-ins with the Jim Crow South’s customs. For example, once at a movie theatre, Assata decided to enter the white-only section to buy a picture. Sadly, the people there stared at her and insulted her, leading to her humiliation. Additionally, in Queens—where she attended school—other children often teased her. Assata, who was not one to take an insult, sometimes fought the other kids over such teasing and was further ostracized. 

 

When she lived with her mother in Queens, Assata often ran away from home. One time, in fact, she ran away and got a job at the young age of thirteen. Her aunt, Evelyn Williams, viewed her running away as unacceptable and eventually took Assata in. Her aunt was a civil rights worker and played an important role in fostering Assata’s love of reading. After Assata dropped out of high school, her aunt helped her get a GED degree and also encouraged her to attend Manhattan Community College and eventually the City College of New York. 

 

In college, Assata experienced a political awakening. Surrounded by like-minded Black college students, she was introduced to new ideas and perspectives that shaped her understanding of oppression in America. An important event in shaping her political ideology was a conversation she had with some African students that attended Columbia University. In the conversation, Assata argued that the United States was justified in fighting the Vietnam War, but when her interlocutors challenged her ideas, she found that she was not sure of the things she argued. In fact, Assata maintained throughout the conversation that communism was bad, but when asked to explain what communism was, she did not have a faint idea. From this moment, she decided to conduct her own research on topics and later adopted a socialist viewpoint. Additionally, college introduced her to many Black Nationalist groups and ideologies, like Garveyism, the Republic of New Afrika, and the Black Panther Party. Further, Assata married Louis Chesimard, but they quickly divorced because of household management differences.

 

Out of college, Assata renewed her interest in the Black Panther Party during her stay in Berkeley, California. There she visited the party’s headquarters and was struck by the party’s willingness to converse and revolutionary direction. She decided that she would join the party when she returned to New York.

 

The Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army

In the Harlem branch of the Black Panther Party, Assata’s ability to organize people and her commitment to Black liberation flourished. There, she worked on the Free Breakfast for Children Program and on the establishment of a free health clinic. She was especially fond of the breakfast program, enjoying both working with children and how meaningful the work was. 

 

After a while, however, Assata grew dissatisfied with the leadership and direction of the Black Panther Party. She expressed her discontent with the machismo of the male leaders and the unwillingness to listen to criticism. She explains, “Constructive criticism and self-criticism are extremely important for any revolutionary organization. Without them, people tend to drown in their mistakes, not learn from them” (Assata, 226). 

 

The FBI’s involvement in the party with their COINTEL program also fueled her discontent with the party. In her later years with the Black Panthers, Assata noticed many strange instances that related to the FBI’s involvement in the party. Notably, a boss she often disagreed with turned out to be an informant for the FBI, and she was once threatened through the phone to stop recording audio tapes. 

 

Unfortunately, FBI surveillance followed Assata after her split with the Black Panthers. This surveillance proved so overt that she encountered two agents camping outside her apartment. Because of the significant surveillance, Assata decided to go underground and join the Black Liberation Army (BLA). 

 

Accounts of the BLA differ significantly based on the source, but the general consensus shows that it was a militant organization that sought to achieve Black liberation by any means necessary. Adding to this consensus, the FBI characterized the BLA as a centralized organization that performed murders, kidnappings, and robberies. This characterization, however, is heavily sensationalized and far from the truth. Assata, in her autobiography, claimed that the BLA was not a centralized organization, denying the assertions that she was the “mother hen” of the organization. Furthermore, she described the BLA as a response to the horrid poverty and oppression African Americans faced because of systemic racism. The BLA was a collective, rather than organization, of various groups that united under the goal of Black liberation and freedom. These various groups were very diverse and had different motivations and tactics. 

 

Around this time, she also renamed herself to Assata Olugbala Shakur. Her renaming arose out of her interpretation of her previous name as a “slave name.” Her new name, on the other hand, carried profound significance. She explains, “‘Assata’ means ‘She who struggles,’ Olugbala means ‘Love for the people,’ and i took the name Shakur out of respect for Zayd and Zayd’s family. Shakur means ‘the thankful.’” (Assata, 186). 

 

The New Jersey Turnpike Incident

Prior to the infamous New Jersey turnpike incident, Assata was the victim of many vicious misrepresentations of her character and faced many false charges. The FBI—which felt a significant threat from Assata’s politically subversive messages—waged an attack on her character. Because of this attack, Assata became known as the lead organizer of the Black Liberation Army and was allegedly photographed at a bank robbery. Though this photograph was not of her, media outlets widely circulated it, threatening Assata’s daily life. Furthermore, Assata was charged with many crimes, including bank robbery, assault of a police officer, and the kidnapping of a drug dealer. Assata was acquitted on all of these charges, but these charges played an important role in the turnpike incident that would leave her seriously injured. 

 

On May 2, 1973, New Jersey state trooper James Harper pulled over Assata in a car with Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli. The alleged reason for the traffic stop was a broken taillight. Notably, in his analysis of the event, Lennox Hinds, a prominent Black lawyer, noted that such stoppings were aligned with COINTELPRO’s guidelines of stopping Black revolutionaries for minor traffic infractions. Harper followed Assata’s car for two miles, making note of the car’s passengers and waiting until the car neared a state trooper administration building. 

 

The accounts of what happened following the stop differ significantly, but there was certainly a shootout that led to the deaths of backup trooper Werner Foerster and Assata’s close friend Zayd. Both Acoli and Assata escaped the shooting with their lives but were both eventually taken into custody. 

 

Assata was taken into hospitalized custody in critical condition after she survived multiple gun shots. In the hospital, she received inhumane treatment; state troopers senselessly beat her and disrupted her care. Further, the troopers deprived her of information and interrogated her. 

 

Awaiting Trial

After receiving lifesaving treatment, Assata stayed in custody until she was tried for the various allegations waged against her. She was moved from prison to prison and faced inhumane and tortuous treatment wherever she went. During the multiple legal cases, Assata faced many of the systemic problems with the American justice system firsthand. At each trial, she and her lawyers—one of which was her aunt Evelyn—were given little warning about changes, had many of their motions denied, and faced prejudiced juries. Despite this, Assata was acquitted on all counts except for the murder of Werner Foerster. 

 

During this time, Assata conceived a child with her close friend Kamau Sadiki. Her pregnancy was marred by the state’s ill regard for her condition. In fact, Assata was assigned a doctor who suggested an abortion. Due to an appeal, though, Assata was eventually given the right to her own gynecologist, who helped her give birth to Kakuya Amala Olugbala Shakur. Although her baby was stripped away following birth, the baby gave Assata immense hope for the future and the next generation. 

 

The Trial 

In the trial that led to her conviction, Assata’s defense met significant adversity. For one, the jury selection process yielded a prejudiced jury; the jury itself was all-white, and many of the members were related to state troopers. Secondly, the defense struggled to find forensic and ballistic experts that would testify against the prosecution’s scientific claims. Thirdly, the defense suffered a tragedy when the lawyer Stanley Cohen mysteriously died. 

 

The jury ultimately decided that Assata was guilty, but this conviction is heavily criticized for multiple reasons. For one, after the defense eventually got a medical expert, the expert determined that Assata was shot with her arms raised. This shooting left her paralyzed and, according to Neurosurgeon Dr. Arthur Turner Davidson, unable to fire the gun that the prosecution alleged. Another reason the jury’s decision seemed unwarranted stemmed from inconsistencies in the witnesses’ testimonies. Finally, the prosecution substituted credible evidence for appeals to racist portrayals of Assata. 

 

Jailbreak and Asylum in Cuba

On November 2, 1979, Assata escaped from the Clinton Correction Facility in New Jersey. Fellow members of the Black Liberation Army brought weapons into the prison, held prison guards at gunpoint, and escaped with Shakur. With the help of many friends, Assata remained a fugitive until she was granted political asylum in Cuba in 1984. In Cuba, Assata was interviewed by some sources, and she famously published Assata: An Autobiography in 1987. This publication eloquently describes her life and offers many important insights into revolutionary work and now critical race theory. 

 

While in exile, Assata was subject to many concerted efforts to demonize her name and character. Many politicians called for Cuba to extradite her, but the country ultimately refused. Legislators and other government officials, like current President Donald Trump, have reduced Assata to the label “cop-killer” and have exacerbated her vilification. Furthermore, the FBI placed Assata on their famous “Most Wanted List” and even labelled her a terrorist. 

 

On September 25, 2025, Assata died from health problems in Havana, Cuba. Though her body has left this Earth, her legacy lives on. Her heritage lives on in her daughter; her compassion lives on in the children she fed during the free meals program; her influence lives on in critical race theorists who seek her powerful insight; her work lives on in her beautiful poetry; and her love lives on in all those who struggle against injustice.