Assata Shakur

Assata Shakur
Photograph taken in 1977
Born	JoAnne Deborah Byron (1947-07-16) July 16, 1947 (age 76)[a] New York City, U.S.
Known for	Convicted of murder, one of the FBI's "Most Wanted Terrorists", friend of Afeni Shakur and Mutulu Shakur and often described as their son Tupac Shakur's "godmother" or "step-aunt"[2]
Criminal status	Escaped/At large
Spouse	Louis Chesimard ​ ​ (m. 1967; div. 1970)​
Children	1 (Kakuya Shakur)
Allegiance	Black Liberation Army (1970/1–1981) Black Panther Party (1970)
Conviction(s)	1977 First degree murder Second degree murder (later dismissed) Atrocious assault and battery Assault and battery against a police officer Assault with a dangerous weapon Assault with intent to kill Illegal possession of a weapon Armed robbery (bank)
Criminal penalty	Life sentence
Reward amount	$2,000,000
Capture status	Fugitive
Wanted by	FBI
Escaped	November 2, 1979; 44 years ago (1979-11-02)

This article is part of a series about
Black power
History Black Arts Movement Black is beautiful Black power movement Black Power Revolution Kwanzaa Raised fist events of 1968 and 1972
Ideologies African socialism Africana womanism Afrocentrism Anti-Americanism Black anarchism Black feminism Black leftism Black nationalism Black pride Black separatism Black supremacism Intercommunalism Pan-Africanism
Organizations African People's Socialist Party Assata's Daughters Black Guerrilla Family Black Liberators Black Liberation Army Black Panther Militia Black Panther Party Black Radical Congress Black Revolutionary Assault Team Black Riders Liberation Party Black Women's Defense League British Black Panthers Conscious Community Five-Percent Nation George Jackson Brigade Huey P. Newton Gun Club League of Revolutionary Black Workers Lowndes County Freedom Organization May 19th Communist Organization MOVE Nation of Islam National Joint Action Committee New Black Panther Party Republic of New Afrika Revolutionary Action Movement Revolutionary Black Panther Party SNCC Symbionese Liberation Army US Organization Weather Underground
People Angela Davis Assata Shakur Donald DeFreeze Elaine Brown Eldridge Cleaver Fay Bellamy Powell Fred Hampton Gloria Richardson Hakim Jamal Huey P. Newton John Africa Malcolm X Marcus Garvey Martin Luther King, Jr. Maulana Karenga Malik Zulu Shabazz Michael X Muhammad Ahmad Obi Egbuna Robert F. Williams Rosa Parks Stokely Carmichael Wadsworth Jarrell
Works A Taste of Power Black Power and the American Myth Ten-Point Program The Diary of Malcolm X Revolutionary Suicide
Related Anarchism Black Lives Matter Black Power gang Black Power in the Caribbean Black Power in Montreal Communism Feminism Hutu Power New Left Political hip hop Red Power movement Socialism The Troubles United States civil rights movement White power Youth rights
Category  United States portal  Trinidad and Tobago portal  Africa portal
v t e

Assata Olugbala Shakur (born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947^[a]), also known as Joanne Chesimard, is an American political activist and convicted murderer who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). In 1977, she was convicted in the first-degree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and is currently wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million FBI reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the Attorney General of New Jersey.^[3]

Born in Flushing, Queens, she grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. After she ran away from home several times, her aunt, who would later act as one of her lawyers, took her in. She became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. After graduation, she began using the name Assata Shakur, and briefly joined the Black Panther Party. She then joined the BLA, a loosely knit offshoot of the Black Panthers, which engaged in an armed struggle against the US government through tactics including robbing banks and killing police officers and drug dealers.^[4]

Between 1971 and 1973, she was charged with several crimes and was the subject of a multi-state manhunt. In May 1973, Shakur was arrested after being wounded in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. Also involved in the shootout were New Jersey State Troopers Werner Foerster and James Harper and BLA members Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur. State Trooper Harper was wounded; Zayd Shakur was killed; State Trooper Foerster was killed. Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, bank robbery, and kidnapping in relation to the shootout and six other incidents. 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.

While serving a life sentence for murder, Shakur escaped in 1979, with assistance from the BLA and members of the May 19 Communist Organization, from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in Union Township, NJ, now the Edna Mahan Correctional Facility for Women. She surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum. Shakur has lived in Cuba since, despite US government efforts to have her returned. 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.^[5][6]

Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).