Black August....
"honor[s] the revolutionaries and political prisoners who have given the ultimate sacrifice for the liberation of Black people."
-- The Black Collective
Black August began in the 1970s by incarcerated freedom fighters to honor Black political prisoners killed via state violence. Black August raises consciousness of carceral system and its conditions and it celebrates the Black radical tradition. (Movement for Black Lives)
Image: Pinback Button, ca. 1971. Collection of the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, Gift of T. Rasul Murray. View original.
The San Quentin Six were six inmates accused of participating in a 1971 escape attempt in which inmate George Jackson and five other individuals were killed.
Say Their Names, Share Their Stories
In the struggle for Black liberation, white supremacy has claimed the lives of many revolutionaries and freedom fighters. Some have paid the ultimate price and their lives cut short. Others were captured and tortured within the prison system for decades. Or they fled the US, exiling themselves to African or Caribbean nations. And some survived incarceration, harassment, and domestic terrorism and carry forward in honor of their comrades they lost along the way. This resource guide is a tribute to Black revolutionaries -- past, present, and future -- living and ancestral, named and unnamed.
Assassinated Agitators
George Jackson
(1941-1971)
"George Jackson was jailed ostensibly for stealing 70 dollars. He was given a sentence of one year to life because he was black, and he was kept incarcerated for years under the most dehumanizing conditions because he discovered that blackness need not be a badge of servility but rather could be a banner for uncompromising revolutionary struggle. He was murdered because he was doing too much to pass this attitude on to fellow prisoners. George Jackson was political prisoner and a black freedom fighter. He died at the hands of the enemy." -- Walter Rodney, November 1971
Black August (2007)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Declassified FBI / COINTELPRO Records
Readings & Resources
- Davis, A. Y. (1971). If they come in the morning : voices of resistance. New York, N.Y: The Third Press. Full-text it online.
- Jackson, G. (1970). Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson, via Internet Archive. Full-text online.
- Jackson, G. (1972). Blood in My Eye, via Internet Archive. Full-text online.
- Joy, J. (2018). George Jackson: Dragon Philosopher and Revolutionary Abolitionist. Black Perspectives. Full-text online.
- Rodney, W. (1971). George Jackson: Black Revolutionary, via History is a Weapon. Full-text online.
Image: George Jackson, San Quentin Prison, November 5, 1970. Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones Photographs Collection. University of California, Santa-Cruz. View original.
Dr. Huey P. Newton
(1942-1989)
"Huey Percy Newton was born in Monroe, Louisiana. His parents moved to Oakland, California during Newton’s childhood. He graduated from high school without having acquired literacy, but he later taught himself to read. He attended a variety of schools including Merritt College before eventually earning a Bachelor’s degree and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Santa Cruz. During his tenure at Merritt College, Newton joined the Afro-American Association and helped get the first African American History course adopted into the college’s curriculum. Soon after, in October 1966, he and Bobby Seale founded the Black Panther Party for Self Defense (BPP). They decided that Seale would be the Chairman and Newton would be the Minister of Defense. Many of the Party’s principles were inspired by Malcolm X and his views. The Party believed that in the Black struggle for justice, violence (or the potential of violence) may be necessary." -- National Archives, continue reading
A Huey P. Newton Story (2001)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Declassified FBI / COINTELPRO Records
Readings & Resources:
- Newton, H.P. (1966). The Ten-Point Program, published in War Against the Panthers (1980) by Huey P. Newton, Full-text online via Marxist Internet Archive.
- Newton, H.P. (1973). Revolutionary Suicide, via Internet Archive. Full-text online.
- Newton, Huey P. and Elaine Brown. 2019. The New Huey P. Newton Reader. Second ed. edited by D. Hilliard and D. Weise. New York, NY: Seven Stories Press. Find in a library near you!
- Rosebury, Celia. Black Liberation on trial: The Case of Huey Newton, via Freedom Archives. Full-text online.
- Seale, Bobby. 1991. Seize the Time : The Story of the Black Panther Party and Huey P. Newton. Black Classic Press. Find in a library near you!
Image: Huey P. Newton speaking at Boston College: Newton at the podium, November 18, 1970. Jeff Albertson Photograph Collection (PH 57). Special Collections and University Archives, University of Massachusetts Amherst Libraries. View original.
Chairman Fred Hampton
(1948-1969)
"Fred Hampton was an active leader in the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP), leading their Youth Council of the organization’s West Suburban Branch. Hampton joined the Chicago chapter of the Black Panther Party (BPP) in November 1968. He quickly rose to a leadership position, becoming the deputy chairman of the Illinois chapter of the Party. He organized rallies, established a Free Breakfast program, and negotiated a peace pact among rival gangs. As a rising leader in the BPP, Hampton became the focus of an FBI investigation. On December 4, 1969, Hampton...was murdered." -- from the National Archives, continue reading.
Judas and the Black Messiah (2021)
On Demand via Amazon Prime & YouTube
Declassified FBI / COINTELPRO Records
Readings & Resources
- Stern, R. (1973). The Books in Fred Hampton's Apartment. E.P. Dutton. Full-text online.
- Haas, J. (2019). The Assassination of Fred Hampton: How the FBI and the Chicago Police Murdered a Black Panther. Lawrence Hill Books. Find in a library near you!
- Hampton, F., Bedour A., & Hampton, Jr., F. (2023). I Am a Revolutionary: Fred Hampton Speaks. Pluto Press. Find in a library near you!
- Williams, J. (2013). From the Bullet to the Ballot: The Illinois Chapter of the Black Panther Party and Racial Coalition Politics in Chicago. University of North Carolina Press. Find in a library near you!
Image: Black Panthers host a free breakfast program for school kids at 1512 South Pulaski Road, Chicago, Illinois. Fred Hampton speaks to a few children, 1969. Photo by Dave Fornell. Chicago Sun-Times collection, Chicago History Museum.
Lil' Bobby Hutton
(1950-1968)
"Robert James Hutton, also known as Bobby or Lil’ Bobby, was the first recruit and first treasurer of the Black Panther Party (BPP) at just 16 years old. He was also the first member of the party killed by the police." -- from BlackPast.org, continue reading.
Panther (1995)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Dr. Angela Yvonne Davis
(b. 1944)
"Angela Davis is an American political activist, professor, and author who was an active member in the Communist Party and the Black Panther Party. She is most famous for her involvement with the Soledad brothers, who were accused of killing a prison guard. During George Jackson’s trial in August 1970, an escape attempt was made at gunpoint and several people were killed. Davis was accused of taking part in the event and was charged with murder. Evidence showed that the guns were registered to her and rumors said she was in love with Jackson, which later proved untrue. Davis went into hiding and was placed on the FBI’s most wanted list. She spent eighteen months in jail, which led to the “Free Angela Davis” campaign and the Angela Davis Legal Defense Committee." -- from the National Museum of African American History and Culture
Angela Davis: Portrait of a Revolutionary (1971)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Readings & Resources
- Aptheker, B. (2014). Free Angela Davis, and all political prisoners!: a transnational campaign for liberation. Alexander Street Press. Find in a library near you!
- Davis, A. Y. (1971). If they come in the morning: voices of resistance. Third Press. Full-text online.
- Davis, A. Y. (1983). Women, race & class [first edition]. New York: Vintage Books. Find in a library near you!
- Davis A. Y. (1988). Angela Davis: an autobiography. Random House. Full-text online.
- Davis, A. Y. (Angela Y. (2003). Are prisons obsolete? Seven Stories Press. Find in a library near you!
- Davis, A. Y. (2005). Abolition democracy : beyond empire, prisons, and torture. Seven Stories Press. Find in a library near you!
- Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle : Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books. Find in a library near you!
Image: Angela Davis speaking from behind a four-sided bulletproof glass shield at Madison Square Garden, 29 June 1972.
Mumia Abu-Jamal
(b. 1954)
Mumia Abu-Jamal is an award-winning broadcast journalist, essayist, and author of 12 books. In the late 1970s, Abu-Jamal worked as a reporter for radio stations throughout the Delaware Valley. In 1980, he won the prestigious Major Armstrong Award from Columbia University for excellence in broadcasting and the following year, he was elected president of the Philadelphia chapter of the Association of Black Journalists' of Philadelphia.
Since 1982, Abu-Jamal has lived in Pennsylvania state prison after being convicted of first-degree murder of a white police officer. He spent 28 of those years in solitary confinement on death row. After decades of public criticism and activism, Abu-Jamal's death sentence was commuted to life without parole. -- from PrisonRadio.org, continue reading.
In Prison My Whole Life (2007)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Readings & Resources
- Abu-Jamal, M. (1996). Live from death row. Avon Books. Find in a library near you!
- Abu-Jamal, M. (2004). We want freedom: a life in the Black Panther Party. South End Press. Find in a library near you!
- Abu-Jamal, M. (2015). Writing on the Wall: Selected Prison Writings of Mumia Abu-Jamal. City Lights. Read it online.
- Marques, N. (Apr. 2023). Mumia Abu-Jamal’s appeal is denied. Read it online.
- Nocella, A. J., Parmar, P., and Stovall, D. eds. (2018). From Education to Incarceration: Dismantling the School-To-Prison Pipeline. Peter Lang. Find in a library near you!
Image: Mumia Abu-Jamal on death row in the 1990s. Philadelphia Inquirer.
MOVE
MOVE is a Black liberation organization that formed in Philadelphia in the early 1970s. In 1978, their compound was assaulted by the Philadelphia Police Department, leading to an armed standoff. MOVE members were attacked by a militarized police force of 600 officers in armored vehicles and bulldozers. The resulting gun battle between MOVE members and the Philadelphia police left one officer dead. Multiple MOVE members were arrested and sentenced to lengthy prison sentences, between 30 and 100 years.
Political Prisoners:
- Chuck Africa - incarcerated 42 years, from 1978-2020. Died 2021.
- Debbie Africa - incarcerated 40 years, from 1978-2018.
- Delbert Africa - incarcerated 40 years, from 1978-2020.
- Eddie Africa - incarcerated 41 years, from 1978-2019.
- Janet Africa - incarcerated 41 years, from 1978-2019.
- Janine Africa - incarcerated 41 years, from 1978-2019.
- Merle Africa - incarcerated 10 years, died in prison in 1988.
- Mike Africa, Jr. - born in prison weeks Debbie Africa was incarcerated. Spent his life working to free is parents and other MOVE members.
- Mike Africa, Sr. - incarcerated 40 years, from 1978-2018.
- Phil Africa - incarcerated 37 years, died in prison in 2015.
"On May 13, 1985, the Philadelphia Police Department dropped a C-4 bomb on the home of the MOVE organization, killing eleven people — including five children — and wiping out 61 homes in two city blocks." -- Zinn Education Project, continue reading.
Bombing deaths:
The bombing on May 13, 1985 claimed the lives of 11 MOVE members, including its founder, John Africa, and 5 children. Only two members survived: Birdie Africa (age 13) and Romana Africa (age 29).
No one was held accountable to for the bombing, even to this day. Romana Africa, however, was sentenced to 7 years in prison for "rioting" in connection with the incident.
In 2022, news broke that the bodies of Delisha and Katricia “Tree” Africa were unethically retained and handled by the Penn Museum at the University of Pennsylvania without the consent of their living family members.
- Read a statement from UPenn's Race, Science, and Society Program condemning the Museum's actions.
- Read the Museum's response to public criticism.
40 Years a Prisoner (2020)
Streaming now on HBO Max
Declassified FBI / COINTELPRO Records
Suggested Readings
- Boyette, M. and Boyette, R. (1989). "Let It Burn!": The Philadelphia Tragedy. Contemporary Books. Find in a library near you!
- Dickson, J. S. (2002). Move: Sites of Trauma. Princeton Architectural press. Find in a library near you!
- Evans, R. K. (2020). Move: An American Religion. Oxford University Press. Find in a library near you!
- Norwood, L. (Aug. 2019). The Day Philadelphia Bombed Its Own People. Vox. Full-text online.
- Rooney, S. (Dec. 2020). Memory, Margins, and Materiality: The Philadelphia MOVE Bombing. Dissertation. Temple University. Full-text online.
Image: Members of MOVE gather in front of their house in the Powelton Village neighborhood of Philadelphia in 1978. Leif Skoogfors/Corbis via Getty Images.
Assata Olugbala Shakur
(b. 1947)
In her own words: "My name is Assata ("she who struggles") Olugbala ( "for the people" ) Shakur ("the thankful one"), and I am a 20th century escaped slave. Because of government persecution, I was left with no other choice than to flee from the political repression, racism and violence that dominate the US government's policy towards people of color. I am an ex political prisoner, and I have been living in exile in Cuba since 1984. I have been a political activist most of my life, and although the U.S. government has done everything in its power to criminalize me, I am not a criminal, nor have I ever been one. In the 1960s, I participated in various struggles: the black liberation movement, the student rights movement, and the movement to end the war in Vietnam. I joined the Black Panther Party. By 1969 the Black Panther Party had become the number one organization targeted by the FBI's COINTELPRO program. because the Black Panther Party demanded the total liberation of black people, J. Edgar Hoover called it "greatest threat to the internal security of the country" and vowed to destroy it and its leaders and activists." -- from Assata Shakur Speaks, continue reading.
Assata Shakur: Eyes Of The Rainbow (1997)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Readings & Resources
- Murch, D. J. (2022). Assata taught me: state violence, racial capitalism, and the movement for Black lives. Haymarket Books. Find in a library near you!
- Shakur, A., & Davis, A. (2001). Assata: An Autobiography. Chicago Review Press. Full-text online.
Image: Assata Shakur, pictured in Cuba in 1987. (Image: Newsday RM via Getty Images)
Dr. Kathleen (Neal) Cleaver
(b. 1945)
In 1966, Kathleen Cleaver dropped out of college to work full-time for the civil rights movement with the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, and later joined the Black Panther Party after embracing "the black power movement to push African Americans toward full self-determination." Dr. Cleaver became the first prominent woman leader of the Party and was recognized as a national symbol of the Black Power Movement. She worked as the Panthers' Secretary of Communications, expanding Party ranks and to thwart the FBI's counterintelligence program, COINTELPRO. -- from American Radio Works, continue reading.
Eldridge Cleaver
(1935-1998)
"Co-founder and Minister of Information for the Black Panther Party (BPP), Senior editor of Ramparts leftist magazine, editor of the Black Panther newspaper, and US presidential candidate for the Peace and Freedom Party in 1968, Eldridge Cleaver was a dedicated social activist. He advocated Black Power, the idea that Blacks must organize politically in order to confront white society from a position of strength. As a teenager, he was jailed frequently and at the age of 22, he was convicted of assault.... When Cleaver was released from parole in 1966 he joined the BPP and became their Minister of Information. BPP member, Lil' Bobby Hutton and Eldridge Cleaver were assaulted by police in 1968." -- via Freedom Archives
From 1968-1975, Katheryn and Eldridge Cleaver lived in exile in Mexico, Cuba, Algeria, and France.
Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther (1971)
Watch it for free on YouTube
Declassified FBI / COINTELPRO Records
Readings & Resources
- Cleaver, E. (1991). Soul on ice. Dell Publishing. Full-text online.
- Cleaver, E., & Cleaver, K. (2006). Target zero: a life in writing, Palgrave Macmillan. Find in a library near you!
- Cleaver, K., & Katsiaficas, G. N. (2001). Liberation, imagination, and the Black Panther Party: a new look at the Panthers and their legacy. Routledge. Find in a library near you!
Image: Cover image from a documentary by William Klein, Eldridge Cleaver, Black Panther (1970).
The film portrays Kathleen and Eldridge Cleaver living in exile in Algeria & France.
Women of the Black Power Movement
History has a way of erasing women, and the same is true for Black revolutionary women. In the struggle for liberation, Black women have experienced a double oppression. To be Black and a woman has impacted the revolutionary women who suffered not only at the hands of white oppressors but also within liberation movements. Relegated to the margins of the movement, many Black women were not as frequently the direct targets of the FBI. However, their proximity to powerful Black men did place them (and their children) in mortal danger. These tenacious women were the backbone of the movement, surviving their spouses and friends who perished in the struggle. Many of these incredible women are still with us today, and they've never stopped fighting.
- Afeni Shakur (1947-2016)
- Akua Njeri (b. 1949/50)
- Barbara Easly-Cox
- Carol Henry
- Chaka Khan (b. 1953)
- Charlotte Hill O’Neal (b. 1951)
- Claudia Grayson
- Connie Matthews (1943-1993)
- Elaine Brown (b. 1943)
- Earlene Coleman
- Ericka Huggins (b. 1948)
- Ethel Paris
- Fredricka Newton
- Gloria Abernethy
- Gloria Curtis
- Dr. Gwendolyn Zoharah Simmons (b. 1944)
- Hazel Mack
- Jennifer Yasmeen Sutton
- Joan Tarika Lewis (b. 1950)
- Kiilu Nyasha
- Lynn French
- Dr. Rosemari Mealy
- Ruth Hagwood
- Safiya Bukhari (1950-2003)
- Yvonne King
Declassified FBI/COINTELPRO Records
Readings & Resources
- Berger, D. (2023). Stayed On Freedom: The Long History of Black Power through One Family’s Journey. Basic Books. Find in a library near you!
- Blain, K. N. (2018). Set the World on Fire: Black Nationalist Women and the Global Struggle for Freedom. University of Pennsylvania Press. Find in a library near you!
- Brown, E. (1992). A Taste of Power: A Black Woman's Story. Pantheon Books. Find in a library near you!
- Bukhari S. (2010). The war before: the true life story of becoming a black panther keeping the faith in prison & fighting for those left behind. Feminist Press. Find in a library near you!
- Cope, S. (2022). Power Hungry: Women of the Black Panther Party and Freedom Summer and Their Fight to Feed a Movement. Lawrence Hill Books. Find in a library near you!
- Farmer, A. D. (2017). Remaking Black Power: How Black Women Transformed an Era. University of North Carolina Press. Find in a library near you!
- Franklin, V. P. (2001). Sisters in the Struggle: African American Women in the Civil Rights-Black Power Movement. edited by B. Collier-Thomas. New York University Press. Find in a library near you!
- O'Neal, C. (Apr. 2018). Those Left Behind. Africology: The Journal of Pan African Studies, vol.11, no.6. Full-text online.
- Shames, S., Huggins, E., Davis, A. Y., Porter, B., & Davis, A. Y. (2022). Comrade sisters : women of the Black Panther Party. ACC Art Books. Find in a library near you!
- Swift, J. A. (n.d.) Radical Commitments: The Revolutionary Vow of Ericka Huggins. Black Women Radicals. Full-text online.
Image: Angela Davis, Stokely Carmichael, and Barbara Easly-Cox at Los Angeles International Airport. Photo by Howard Bingham, 1968. Source.
Children of the Black Power Movement
Children are the most overlooked Black freedom fighters in history. Like their mothers, the children of the Black Power Movement served important and often marginalized roles within liberation organizations. By emphasizing the Black family, community uplift, and liberation education, children were a significant part of the Black Panther Party. Community programs the free hot breakfasts, freedom schools, and health clinics ensured that children in impoverished Black neighborhoods were healthy, nourished, and educated. Children growing up in and around Black revolutionaries and liberation organizations would grow up to become the next generation of Black leaders. Many children lost parents to police violence or incarceration, often contributing to their dedication to racial justice.
- Abram, Ericka
- Cleaver, Ahmad Maceo Eldridge
- Cleaver, Joju Younghi
- Cook, Jamal
- Cook, Mazi
- Cook, Lateefa
- Cox-Marshall, Kimberly
- Hampton, Jr., Fred
- Higgins, Mai
- Hilliard, Darryl
- Hilliard, Dassine
- Hilliard, Dorian
- Hilliard, Patrice
- Jones, Wonda
- Newton, Kieron
- Newton, Jessica
- Newton, Ronnie
- O'Neal, Malcolm
- O'Neal, Stormy
- Simmons, Aishah Shahidah
- Shakur, Kakuya
- Shakur, Tupac
- Ture, Bokar
- Williams, Mary Luana
Readings & Resources
- Blake J. (2004). Children of the movement. Lawrence Hill Books. Find in a library near you!
- Garcha, K. (Oct. 2015). Bringing the Vanguard Home: Revisiting the Black Panther Party’s Sites of Class Struggle. Viewpoint Magazine. Full-text online.
- Potash J. L. (2021). The FBI war on Tupac Shakur: state repression of black leaders from the civil rights era to the 1990s. Microcosm Publishing. Find in a library near you!
- Williams M. (2013). The lost daughter. Blue Rider Press. Find in a library near you!
- Winfrey, O. (Feb. 2021). Fred Hampton Jr. on Honoring His Father's Legacy in Judas and the Black Messiah. Oprah Daily. Full-text online.
Image: Darryl, Patrice, and Dorian Hilliard at Free Huey Rally, Bobby Hutton Memorial Park, 1968. Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones Photographs Collection. University of California, Santa Cruz Digital Collections. See original.