By: Zainab Salam, Opinions Editor
Content warning: mentions of solitary confinement.
Humans of all walks of life leave an imprint as they live. But once they’re gone, this imprint solidifies itself into a legacy. Assata Olugbala Shakur is one of those people. Born JoAnne Deborah Bryon in 1947, she grew up in New York and North Carolina. As a young Black woman exposed to structural inequalities, Shakur forged her identity through acts of liberation.
Raised by her mother, grandparents, and aunt Evelyn A. Williams — a civil rights organizer — Shakur grew up amid financial instability. As a child, she experienced segregated and integrated schooling, and later became increasingly aware of the distortions of official histories taught in classrooms.
During her university years, she became involved in anti-war and civil rights organization. These environments encouraged her to study revolutionary movements globally and view Black liberation in connection to anti-colonialism. With the intensification of her activism came the target on her back.
In a move to reclaim her identity, Shakur changed her name to reflect her connection to her roots. She chose Assata (“she who struggles” in Swahili) Olugbala (“love for the people” in Yoruban) Shakur (“the thankful” in Arabic). The choice to have Shakur as her last name is particularly meaningful, as it was the name of her comrade: Zayd Malik Shakur.
Shakur experienced the criminalization faced by many Black activists of her era. Like countless other freedom fighters, she was publicly framed as a criminal, cast by law enforcement and media narratives as a dangerous enemy. In reality, her prosecution reflected deeply entrenched patterns of oppression and violence directed towards Black people and Black liberation movements.
Shakur was involved with the Black Panther Party, and later, the Black Liberation Army, a Marxist underground armed group fighting for internal community security from law enforcement. She demonstrated a deep commitment to community organizing, political education, and anti-imperialist struggle during a period marked by intense state repression of Black activism, and civil rights organizing.
In 1973, Shakur, along with two of her comrades, Zayd Malik Shakur and Sundiata Acoli, were pulled over on a New Jersey turnpike for a faulty tail light. With the escalation of the state trooper, Zayd and the state trooper were killed. The wound and overall violence that she sustained became central to interpretations of the event, with Shakur later recounting the altercation in Assata: An Autobiography. In the aftermath of this incident, Shakur’s name was firmly etched into public record and national debate.
Following this, Shakur faced a highly publicized trial that would dominate headlines and legal debates for years. In 1977, she was convicted of first degree murder for the death of the state trooper, and was sentenced to life in prison. The proceedings were emblematic of the broader systemic bias against Black people — an all-white jury that set forth a guilty verdict based on a witness testimony and no concrete evidence.
Her prison sentence consisted of a list of inhumane treatment, including periods of solitary confinement, which she later described as both physically and psychologically taxing. With the help of a network of individuals from the Black Liberation Army, she escaped prison in 1979. Following her escape she remained in the US, in hiding, until she secured political asylum in Cuba, in 1984.
Central to her message is the importance of fighting capitalistic ideologies as they sustain racial oppression. Shakur linked Black liberation to broader struggles against capitalism and class exploitation. Drawing from global anti-colonial movements, she argued that liberation could not be achieved solely by removing overt racial domination if exploitative systems remained intact. Reflecting on African independence struggles, many movements recognized that without dismantling capitalist structures, political freedom would simply reproduce new hierarchies of power. This perspective led Shakur to frame oppression as rooted in both race and class — highlighting that economic inequality allows the elites, regardless of their race, to benefit from systems that marginalize working people.
Yet Shakur’s political philosophy is not limited to her critique. In her poem “Affirmations,” Shakur asserts her philosophy: “I believe in living. / I believe in birth. / I believe in the sweat of love / and in the fire of truth.” She explains, “I have been locked by the lawless. / Handcuffed by the haters. / Gagged by the greedy. / And, if I know any thing at all, / it’s that a wall is just a wall / and nothing more at all. / It can be broken down.”
Words are as much a weapon as any other; perhaps more effective. Words have the capacity to challenge dominant narratives, preserve experiences that might otherwise be erased, and inspire resistance long after the conditions that produced them have shifted.
What remains most accessible to us, is Shakur’s legacy through her written and spoken words, which continue to commemorate and transmit her philosophies. Her writing, particularly her autobiography, has since publication become foundational to contemporary movements for racial justice. Her memoir is widely regarded as a crucial text in civil rights literature. It documents her arduous journey through systemic racial violence in the US, and her dedication to fighting for dignity and self-determination.
Despite decades of exile in Cuba, Shakur’s imprint remains tangible in global political discourse, inspiring artists, organizers, and scholars who continue to engage her work as both historical testimony and living political theory.
Shakur passed away in September of 2025, in Havana, Cuba, at the age of 78. Her passing marked the end of a life that remained politically charged until its final moments. Many see her as a revolutionary thinker while some continue to view her through a criminalized lens.
Until her passing, she had been the first woman to be included in the US’ Federal Bureau of Investigation most-wanted list. She had been added to that list in 2013, with a whopping $2 million dollars reward for whomever helps catch her. Suffice to say, she died a free woman.
