Assata

Assata Shakur had just been shot in the stomach. While she was handcuffed to her hospital bed, the police came in and tried to question her about the shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike. Long a target of J. Edgar Hoover's campaign to defame, infiltrate, and criminalize Black nationalist organizations and their leaders, Shakur had spent four years behind bars for a crime she didn't commit before being convicted of murder. This intensely personal and political autobiography belies the fearsome image of Assata Shakur long projected by the media and the state. With wit and candor, Shakur recounts the experiences that led her to a life of activism and portray the strengths, weaknesses and eventual demise of Black and White revolutionary groups at the hand of government officials.