Assata Shakur, the godmother of slain rapper Tupac Shakur, has died in exile in Havana, Cuba. She was 78.
The Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs announced Assata’s death in a statement on Friday, confirming she died in Havana of age-related health complications (natural causes).
Assata was a prominent political activist and a member of the Black Liberation Army (BLA).
In 1973 she was arrested for the fatal shooting of a white New Jersey state police officer.
Assata Shakur was convicted of murder in 1977 and sentenced to life in prison.
Two years into her life sentence at New Jersey’s Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979, Assata escaped and fled to Cuba. She lived in exile in Cuba until her death on Sept. 25, 2025.
Assata was the first woman on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. She became an icon and a hero to many in the Black community. Her godson, Tupac Shakur, name-dropped her in his rap lyrics.
Born in Flushing, Queens, JoAnne Deborah Byron grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina.
Assata 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, which means “she who struggles” and Shakur, which means “the thankful one.”
She briefly joined the Black Panther Party before joining the BLA.
In April 1967, JoAnne Deborah Byron married fellow CCNY student Louis Chesimard and took his last name. She devoted one paragraph to her marriage in her 320-page memoir.
Assata wrote that her marriage ended over their differing views of gender roles in the household and society.
