Assata Shakur is transferred by authorities from Riker’s Island prison to Middlesex County jail in January 1976 to await trial in the murder of state trooper Werner Foerster. (Photo: Frank Hurley/NY Daily News Archive via Getty Images via CNN Newsource)
Assata Shakur, the Black Liberation Army member and fugitive with a $2 million FBI reward on her head, has died in Havana, where she had received political asylum from Fidel Castro, the Cuban Foreign Ministry announced Friday.
According to the brief announcement, Shakur, also known as Joanne Chesimard, died Thursday from “health ailments and her advanced age.” She was 78 years old.
Shakur, who was the godmother and step-aunt of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, was an outspoken proponent of armed revolution in the United States. She was convicted for her role in a 1973 shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike that resulted in the death of a state trooper. Shakur herself was wounded during the exchange of gunfire and claimed that the FBI had targeted her for assassination as part of a broader campaign against Black militant organizations throughout the 1960s and 70s.
While serving a life sentence for the murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster, Shakur escaped from prison in New Jersey in 1979, beginning a life on the run. She resurfaced in 1984 in Cuba, where then Cuban leader Fidel Castro granted her political asylum.
During her time in Cuba, Shakur wrote books, appeared in documentaries, and openly mocked U.S. efforts to force her extradition. In 2013, the FBI made her the first woman to be placed on its Most Wanted Terrorists list and, alongside the New Jersey Attorney General, increased the reward for her capture to $2 million.
Her asylum on the communist-run island, shared by a handful of other U.S. fugitives from justice, fueled criticism from anti-Castro activists who argued that Cuba should remain on the U.S. State Department’s list of countries sponsoring state terrorism.
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The Philadelphia Tribune hosted its 2025 Most Influential African Americans event on Thursday evening, September 18, 2025. The event celebrated and honored Black Philadelphians who are making a significant impact throughout the area.
https://www.phillytrib.com/obituaries/assata-shakur-fugitive-from-fbi-and-tupac-s-godmother-dies-in-cuba/article_46b51efa-6397-4de6-b492-05168afadd18.html