Assata Shakur

We Have a Duty to Fight for Our Freedom.“ —Assata Shakur

Assata Olugbala Shakur, aka JoAnne Chesimard, (July 16, 1947 to September 25, 2025) was born in Jamaica Queens, NY.

Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover’s campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur was incarcerated for four years prior to her conviction on flimsy evidence in 1977 as an accomplice to murder.