Assata Shakur, born on this day in 1947, is a revolutionary socialist and former member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA) who became the first woman to be added to the FBI’s Most Wanted Terrorists list in 2013.
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Shakur grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. She became involved in political activism at Borough of Manhattan Community College and City College of New York, participating in sit-ins and civil rights protests.
After graduating from college, Shakur briefly joined the Black Panther Party, leading its Harlem chapter. She left the Panthers and joined the Black Liberation Army, a black power group that was inspired by the Viet Cong and Algerian resistance movements and waged guerrilla warfare against the U.S. government from 1970 to 1981. Shakur was one of the targets of the FBI’s COINTELPRO program.
After being involved in a shootout with New Jersey police officers, Shakur was convicted on multiple counts of assault and murder and sentenced to life in prison. In 1979, BLA members freed her in a bloodless prison escape.
Shakur successfully sought political asylum in Cuba, where she died on September 25, 2025, at the age of 78
“I didn’t know what a fool they had made out of me until I grew up and started to read real history.”
- Assata Shakur
I hope you nerds have a good month of July 
Remember no crackers
I’ve been connecting very well with a wonderful queer Black leftist.
Something about her… I don’t know what it is, but something about her is making me catch feelings quick.
I gotta be careful. I’m really passionate and prone to being a “simp,” but I’ve been better at regulating these tendencies lately.
Things are going well. I’m just gonna continue talking with her and seeing where things go. My main focus is just handling this job, which I’m hella nervous about, but I know that, with time, it’ll stop giving me so much anxiety. After I get my first paycheck, I’m gonna purchase a decent but not overly expensive USB mic and audition for doing audiobooks as a side hustle.