Assata Shakur, a revolutionary fighter for Black Liberation, has died, per Cuban news outlet Cubaminrex. She was 78.
On Thursday (September 25), Shakur died in Havana, Cuba, “due to health conditions and advanced age,” a press release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs states.
Shakur, born JoAnne Deborah Byron on July 16, 1947, in Queens, New York, joined Black nationalist movements, like the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army, during the civil rights era. She garnered national attention in 1973 following a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that left State Trooper Werner Foerster and fellow BLA member Zayd Malik Shakur dead. Assata Shakur, who was wounded in the incident, was arrested and later convicted of Foerster’s murder. She consistently maintained her innocence, and supporters said racism and misconduct tainted her trial.
In 1979, Shakur escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in New Jersey with the help of armed allies. She resurfaced years later in Cuba, where Fidel Castro’s government granted her political asylum. She lived there under her chosen name for the rest of her life, shielded from U.S. extradition efforts.
To U.S. authorities, Shakur remained a fugitive and was named to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013, the first woman to receive that designation, with a $2 million reward offered for information leading to her arrest.
However, to activists, Shakur was a symbol of resistance to racial injustice. Her 1987 autobiography, “Assata,” has become a foundational text for Black activists. Shakur is also referenced frequently in hip-hop culture and political discourse.
Prior to her death, Shakur lived quietly in Cuba, occasionally granting interviews and continuing to write and voicing support for global struggles against oppression.
Rest in peace, Assata Shakur.
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