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Assata Shakur, a former Black Panther and Black Liberation Army member exiled in Cuba, died in Havana on September 25. She was 78. According to Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, she passed away due to old age and health conditions.
In a press statement, the Cuban foreign ministry said, “On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ passed away in Havana, Cuba, due to health conditions and advanced age.”
The FBI named Shakur the first woman on its most wanted terrorists list in 2013 and increased the reward for her capture to $2 million in collaboration with New Jersey police.
Shakur spent several decades exiled in Cuba after being convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1977 and escaping from prison.
In a Facebook post, her daughter Kakuya Shakur wrote, “At approximately 1:15 pm on September 25, my mother, Assata Shakur, took her last earthly breath. Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I’m feeling at this time.”
Who was Assata Shakur?
JoAnne Deborah Byron, better known as ‘Assata Shakur,’ was born on July 16, 1947, in Queens, New York, The Guardian reported.
Shakur dropped out of high school and returned to New York, where she worked for a low-wage job.
She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and later City College of New York in the 1960s, where she became an active member of the Black activist group, Golden Drums Society.
Shakur married fellow student activist Louis Chesimard in 1967, and they divorced in 1970, the same year she joined the Black Panther Party, reported BBC.
To better express her identity as an African woman, she changed her name to Assata Olugbala Shakur in 1971, the Guardian report added. Assata means ‘she who struggles’ in Swahili, Olugbala means ‘love for the people’ in Yoruba, and Shakur means ‘the thankful’ in Arabic.
From 1971 to 1973, she and other members were accused of a number of crimes, including bank robberies and the murder of a drug dealer, but were all acquitted or dropped, the Guardian report added.
On May 2, 1973, a state trooper, James Harper, stopped a car she was driving for a failing rear light, while another trooper, Werner Foerster, was in a second police car. Zayd Malik Shakur and Foerster, both members of the Black Liberation Army, were killed in a shootout, the report added.
In 1977, she was convicted of Foerster's murder and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, she escaped from prison with the help of BLA members who posed as visitors. She eventually arrived in Cuba, where Fidel Castro's government offered her shelter. Later, she became the first woman placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.
She was the godmother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most influential and politically outspoken figures in hip-hop history.
In a press statement, the Cuban foreign ministry said, “On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ passed away in Havana, Cuba, due to health conditions and advanced age.”
The FBI named Shakur the first woman on its most wanted terrorists list in 2013 and increased the reward for her capture to $2 million in collaboration with New Jersey police.
Shakur spent several decades exiled in Cuba after being convicted of murdering a New Jersey state trooper in 1977 and escaping from prison.
In a Facebook post, her daughter Kakuya Shakur wrote, “At approximately 1:15 pm on September 25, my mother, Assata Shakur, took her last earthly breath. Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I’m feeling at this time.”
Who was Assata Shakur?
JoAnne Deborah Byron, better known as ‘Assata Shakur,’ was born on July 16, 1947, in Queens, New York, The Guardian reported.
Shakur dropped out of high school and returned to New York, where she worked for a low-wage job.
She attended Borough of Manhattan Community College and later City College of New York in the 1960s, where she became an active member of the Black activist group, Golden Drums Society.
Shakur married fellow student activist Louis Chesimard in 1967, and they divorced in 1970, the same year she joined the Black Panther Party, reported BBC.
To better express her identity as an African woman, she changed her name to Assata Olugbala Shakur in 1971, the Guardian report added. Assata means ‘she who struggles’ in Swahili, Olugbala means ‘love for the people’ in Yoruba, and Shakur means ‘the thankful’ in Arabic.
From 1971 to 1973, she and other members were accused of a number of crimes, including bank robberies and the murder of a drug dealer, but were all acquitted or dropped, the Guardian report added.
On May 2, 1973, a state trooper, James Harper, stopped a car she was driving for a failing rear light, while another trooper, Werner Foerster, was in a second police car. Zayd Malik Shakur and Foerster, both members of the Black Liberation Army, were killed in a shootout, the report added.
In 1977, she was convicted of Foerster's murder and sentenced to life in prison. Two years later, she escaped from prison with the help of BLA members who posed as visitors. She eventually arrived in Cuba, where Fidel Castro's government offered her shelter. Later, she became the first woman placed on the FBI's Most Wanted Terrorists list.
She was the godmother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, one of the most influential and politically outspoken figures in hip-hop history.
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