Episode 3069
Assata Shakur
Sat, 2025-Sep-27 01:26 UTC
Length - 4:04
Direct Link
Welcome to popular Wiki of the Day, spotlighting Wikipedia's most visited pages, giving you a peek into what the world is curious about today.
With 280,211 views on Friday, 26 September 2025 our article of the day is Assata Shakur.
Assata Olugbala Shakur ( ə-SAH-tə shə-KOOR; born JoAnne Deborah Byron; July 16, 1947 – September 25, 2025), also known as Joanne Chesimard, was an American political activist who was a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA). In 1977, she was convicted in the murder of state trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million FBI reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the New Jersey attorney general.
Born in Flushing, Queens, Shakur grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. After she ran away from home several times, her aunt, who would later act as one of her lawyers, took her in. Shakur became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York. After graduation she began using the name Assata Shakur and briefly joined the Black Panther Party, before joining the BLA.
Between 1971 and 1973, she was charged with several crimes and was the subject of a multi-state manhunt. In May 1973, Shakur was arrested after being wounded in a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. Also involved in the shootout were officers Werner Foerster and James Harper, and BLA members Sundiata Acoli and Zayd Malik Shakur. Harper was wounded, and Zayd Shakur and Foerster were killed. Between 1973 and 1977, Shakur was charged with murder, attempted murder, armed robbery, and kidnapping in relation to the shootout and six other incidents. She was acquitted on three of the charges and three were dismissed. In 1977, she was convicted of the murder of State Trooper Foerster and of seven other felonies related to the 1973 shootout. Her defense argued that medical evidence exonerated her, i.e., her right arm was shot and paralyzed while her hands were raised, and she would have been unable to fire a weapon.
While serving a life sentence for murder in New Jersey's Clinton Correctional Facility for Women, Shakur escaped in 1979, with assistance from the BLA and the May 19 Communist Organization. In 1984, she was granted political asylum in Cuba, where she remained for the rest of her life despite U. S. government efforts to have her extradited. In 2013, she was added to the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list, as Joanne Deborah Chesimard, and was the first woman on the list.
Shakur died on September 25th, 2025 at the age of 78 due to "health problems and advanced age" according to the Cuban Foreign Ministry.
This recording reflects the Wikipedia text as of 01:26 UTC on Saturday, 27 September 2025.
For the full current version of the article, see Assata Shakur on Wikipedia.
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Until next time, I'm neural Ayanda.
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