Full Answer
Who was Assata Shakur and what did she do?
Assata Shakur made headlines in 1973 when she killed a New Jersey State Trooper, and again when she escaped and fled to Cuba. But who was she and what was it all about?
Is Assata Shakur on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list?
She has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list since 2013 as Joanne Deborah Chesimard and was the first woman to be added to this list. Assata Shakur was born Joanne Deborah Byron, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, on July 16, 1947.
What does Assata Olugbala Shakur mean?
She began using the name Assata Olugbala Shakur in 1971, rejecting Joanne Chesimard as a "slave name". Assata is a West African name, derived from the Arabic name Aisha, said to mean "she who struggles", while Shakur means "thankful one" in Arabic. Olugbala means "savior" in Yoruba.
What was the Shakur case and why was she wanted?
In 1972, Shakur became the subject of a nationwide manhunt after the FBI alleged that she led a Black Liberation Army cell that had conducted a "series of cold-blooded murders of New York City police officers".
Is Assata Shakur innocent?
She was acquitted on three of the charges and three were dismissed. In 1977, she was convicted of the murder of State Trooper Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the 1973 shootout. Her defense had argued medical evidence suggested her innocence since her arm was damaged in the shootout.
How did Assata Shakur contribute to the civil rights movement?
Shakur was alleged to have been directly involved with the Foster and Laurie murders, and involved with the Piagentini and Jones murders. Some sources go further, identifying Shakur as the de facto leader and the “soul of the Black Liberation Army” after the arrest of co-founder Dhoruba Moore.
Where is JoAnne Chesimard now?
On November 2, 1979, Chesimard escaped from prison and lived underground before being located in Cuba in 1984. She is thought to currently still be living in Cuba.
Was Assata Shakur a Black Panther?
Assata Shakur was only a member of the Black Panthers for a short time in the early 1970s, around the time her godson was born. She soon moved on to the Black Liberation Army, a more militant offshoot of the Panthers that was determined to make an enemy of the United States government.
Who was the leader of the Black Liberation Army?
Assata ShakurBlack Liberation ArmyLeadersAssata Shakur Eldridge CleaverDates of operation1970–1981Split fromBlack Panther PartyActive regionsUnited States5 more rows
Why do people love Assata?
Assata Olugbala Shakur is best known for her civil rights activism in the Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army. She fought for human rights in the 1960s and 1970s. Exploring her well-read autobiography last year changed my life.
How did Chesimard escape?
They smuggled in . 45 caliber pistols and a stick of dynamite. They held two correctional officers as hostages, stole a van and escaped. It is believed that Chesimard lived in Pittsburgh for four years before flying to the Bahamas.
Where did JoAnne Chesimard escape from?
New Jersey prisonAcoli's more-famous co-defendant, Joanne Chesimard, also was convicted and sentenced to a life term but escaped from a New Jersey prison in 1979. Now known as Assata Shakur, she was given asylum in Cuba by then-President Fidel Castro and remains a fugitive.
Who is Tupac Shakur's father?
Billy GarlandTupac Shakur / FatherShakur's parents, Afeni Shakur—born Alice Faye Williams in North Carolina—and his biological father, Billy Garland, had been active Black Panther Party members in New York in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Why was Assata convicted?
Assata Shakur, a former member of the Black Liberation Army, was convicted in 1977 for the murder of a state trooper during a shootout in New Jersey. In 1979, she escaped from prison and made her way to Cuba, where she was granted political asylum and continues to live today.
Where is 2pac buried?
Tupac Shakur Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, 5616 Memorial Drive, Stone Mountain, Georgia Whether you believe rapper Tupac Sakur died in a 1997 Las Vegas shooting, his memorial site is a monumental one.
Was Assata Shakur related to Tupac?
10. Assata Shakur is Pac's Godmother. While Assata is not a blood relative of Tupac, the political activist is commonly known as his godmother. Assata is known for being former member of the Black Liberation Army, and for being convicted of murder.
Who is Assata Shakur related to Tupac?
10. Assata Shakur is Pac's Godmother. While Assata is not a blood relative of Tupac, the political activist is commonly known as his godmother. Assata is known for being former member of the Black Liberation Army, and for being convicted of murder.
What books did Assata Shakur write?
Assata: An Autobiogra...1987Assata2019The Proletarian's PocketbookAssata Shakur/Books
Who is the mother of 2pac?
Afeni ShakurTupac Shakur / MotherThe story of Afeni Shakur is on its way to the big screen. Afeni, who died of cardiac arrest in 2016, was an influential member of the Black Panther Party and the mother of rap icon Tupac Shakur. Now, she will be the subject of a new movie titled “Peace, Love & Respect: The Afeni Shakur/Panther 21 Story.”
When did Assata Shakur die?
Assata Shakur made headlines in 1973 when she killed a New Jersey State Trooper, and again when she escaped and fled to Cuba.
Who was Shakur's aunt?
Eventually, Shakur’s Aunt Evelyn took her in. This relationship seems to have been the turning point in the girl’s life. According to her own later account, Evelyn embodied everything Shakur wanted to be: smart, educated, traveled, sophisticated, and brave.
Why was Assata Shakur on the FBI's most wanted list?
These realities would largely shape the life of the woman who came to be known as Assata Shakur, as the racial and sexual inequalities of her youth eventually became the excuse for every crime she committed and eventually landed her on the FBI’s Most Wanted list as a domestic terrorist.
Where did Assata Shakur go to college?
With her Aunt Evelyn’s help, Assata Shakur studied for and got her GED, before setting off for the Borough of Manhattan Community College, followed by the more prestigious City College of New York.
What was the New York of Assata Shakur's childhood like?
From JoAnne Byron to Assata Shakur. The New York of Assata Shakur’s childhood was a harsh place for black girls. Race riots and white flight killed the economic and social boom that Harlem had enjoyed before World War II had ended, and an economic depression had settled over the black communities in every borough of the city.
Where did Shakur live?
Shakur’s parents divorced when she was young, and she spent the majority of her early life in her grandmother’s home in North Carolina, before another upheaval took her back to Queens as a teenager.
What did Assata do to Foerster?
By falsely asserting that Assata shot Foerster in the head while he lay helplessly on the ground, killing him “execution style”, the US Justice Department hopes to strip Assata of any of the sympathy and political support she now receives in the United States and from the citizens of Cuba. By labeling her a cold-blooded cop killer, the hope is that the real circumstances of the NJ Turnpike as well as all the years prior to that event during which time Assata was relentlessly hunted with the stated purpose of killing her on sight for having committed crimes of which the government knew she was innocent, will be forgotten.
Why was Assata put on the terror watch list?
He said, “Anyone with a mindset that would execute a police officer once they were on the ground is dangerous enough to be considered a domestic terrorism threat.” But Assata is the only person convicted of a single domestic crime who has been classified a terrorist and put on the terrorism watch list, thereby nullifying the very definition of “terrorism”
How many jurors were there in the Assata trial?
In 1977 Assata began trial for the second time in this same Middlesex County, and this time jury nullification was insured: The jurors chosen to determine Assata’s guilt or innocence consisted of five jurors who were either relatives or close personal friends of state troopers or of state law enforcement officers.
What is hands off Assata?
Hands Off Assata Campaign Action Alerts use networks of ordinary citizens from all over the world to educate, agitate and compel change. Action Alerts are simple enough to be carried out by anyone and effective enough to see immediate results.
What happened to Harper's arm?
As a result of the bullet Harper shot under her armpit, while her arms were raised in, her median nerve was severed, immediately paralyzing her entire right arm, shattering her clavicle, and lodging in her chest so close to her heart that an operation to remove it was not feasible. A neurologist testified to that fact at the trial.
Was Assata convicted of the murder of Trooper Foerster?
However, Assata was not convicted of firing the shot that killed Trooper Foerster. She was convicted as an accomplice to his murder under New Jersey’s “aiding and abetting” statute. Under New Jersey law, if a person’s presence at the scene of a crime can be construed as “aiding and abetting” the crime, that person can be convicted of the substantive crime itself. Judge Theodore Appleby charged the jury that they were permitted to speculate that Assata’s “mere presence” at a scene of violence, with weapons in the vehicle, was sufficient to sustain a conviction of the murder of Trooper Foerster. She was also convicted of possession of weapons – none of which could be identified as having been handled by her and of the attempted murder of Trooper Harper, who had sustained a flesh wound at the time of the shootout.
Did Sundiata testify at trial?
1. Sundiata did not testify at trial, nor did he make any pre-trial statements.
Overview
Criminal charges and dispositions
Between 1973 and 1977, in New York and New Jersey, Shakur was indicted ten times, resulting in seven different criminal trials. Shakur was charged with two bank robberies, the kidnapping of a Brooklyn heroin dealer, the attempted murder of two Queens police officers stemming from a January 23, 1973, failed ambush, and eight other felonies related to the Turnpike shootout. Of these trials, three resulted in acquittals, one in a hung jury, one in a change of venue, one in a mistr…
Early life and education
Assata Shakur was born Joanne Deborah Byron, in Flushing, Queens, New York City, on July 16, 1947. She lived for three years with her mother, school teacher Doris E. Johnson, and retired grandparents, Lula and Frank Hill. In 1950, Shakur's parents divorced and she moved with her grandparents to Wilmington, North Carolina. After elementary school, Shakur moved back to Queens to live with her mother and stepfather (her mother had remarried); she attended Parson…
Black Panther Party and Black Liberation Army
After graduation from CCNY, Shakur moved to Oakland, California, where she joined the Black Panther Party (BPP). In Oakland, Shakur worked with the BPP to organize protests and community education programs.
After returning to New York City, Shakur led the BPP chapter in Harlem, coordinating the Free Breakfast Program for children, free clinics, and community outreach. But she soon left the party…
Allegations and manhunt
Beginning in 1971, Shakur was allegedly involved in several incidents of assault and robbery, in which she was charged or identified as wanted for questioning, including attacks on New York City police and bank robberies in the area.
On April 6, 1971, Shakur was shot in the stomach during a struggle with a guest at the Statler Hilton Hotel in Midtown Manhattan. According to police, Shakur knocked on the door of a guest'…
New Jersey Turnpike shootout
On May 2, 1973, at about 12:45 a.m., Assata Shakur, along with Zayd Malik Shakur (born James F. Costan) and Sundiata Acoli (born Clark Squire), were stopped on the New Jersey Turnpike in East Brunswick for driving with a broken tail light by State Trooper James Harper, backed up by Trooper Werner Foerster in a second patrol vehicle. The vehicle was "slightly" exceeding the speed limit. Recordings of Trooper Harper calling the dispatcher were played at the trials of both Acoli and A…
Imprisonment
After the Turnpike shootings, Shakur was briefly held at the Garden State Youth Correctional Facility in Yardville, Burlington County, New Jersey, and later moved to Rikers Island Correctional Institution for Women in New York City where she was kept in solitary confinement for 21 months. Shakur's only daughter, Kakuya Shakur, was conceived during her trial and born on September 11, 1974, in the "fortified …
Escape
In early 1979, "the Family", a group of BLA members, began to plan Shakur's escape from prison. They financed this by stealing $105,000 from a Bamberger's store in Paramus, New Jersey. On November 2, 1979, Shakur escaped the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey, when three members of the Black Liberation Army visiting her drew concealed .45-caliber pistols and a …
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