September 27, 2025
The activist was granted political asylum in Cuba after escaping from a New Jersey prison in 1979.
Assata Shakur, the famed political activist and former Black Liberation Army member who escaped prison and spent decades in exile in Cuba, has died at 78.
Shakur died on Sept. 25, according to a Cuban news outlet.
She was convicted in 1973 for killing a New Jersey State Trooper, but escaped thanks to the aid of a fellow Black Liberation Army member. Shakur was granted political asylum in Cuba under Fidel Castro, where she lived until her death.
Born JoAnne Deborah Byron in Queens, New York, Shakur became active in civil rights protests and sit-ins while attending Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. After graduation, she adopted the name Assata Olugbala Shakur—Assata meaning “she who struggles,” Olugbala meaning “the one who saves,” and Shakur meaning “the thankful one.”
She spent a short time with the Black Panther Party before joining the Black Liberation Army, where she denounced capitalism and advocated for socialism.
“There was not a single liberation movement in Africa that was not fighting for socialism. In fact, there was not a single liberation movement in the whole world that was fighting for capitalism,” she wrote in her 1988 autobiography. “The whole thing boiled down to a simple equation: anything that has any kind of value is made, mined, grown, produced, and processed by working people. So why shouldn’t working people collectively own that wealth? Why shouldn’t working people own and control their own resources? Capitalism meant that rich businessmen owned the wealth, while socialism meant that the people who made the wealth owned it.”
Shakur, the step-aunt and godmother of legendary rapper Tupac Shakur, rose to national attention in 1973 after a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike left State Trooper Werner Foerster and fellow B.L.A. member Zayd Malik Shakur dead.
Wounded in the incident, Shakur was arrested and later convicted of Foerster’s murder, receiving a sentence of life plus 33 years, though she maintained her innocence. Supporters argued that systemic racism, targeted policing of Black nationalist and liberation groups like the B.L.A. and Black Panther Party, and a flawed criminal justice system influenced her trial.
In 1979, Shakur escaped from Clinton Correctional Facility for Women with the help of armed allies. Though she was beyond the reach of U.S. extradition efforts. Shakur was listed on the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list (the first woman to make the list) from 2013 until October 2024, when she was removed after being deemed no longer an active threat.
Shakur’s legacy is that of a fearless activist who challenged systemic racism, police brutality, and social injustice. Her life, writings, and speeches continue to inspire generations of activists and artists, cementing her as a powerful symbol of empowerment, resistance, and the ongoing fight for racial equality.
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