Assata Shakur Dies: Black Liberation Activist and Tupac’s Godmother Was 78

Assata Shakur, a Black liberation activist who was granted political asylum in Cuba after her conviction for killing a New Jersey state trooper, has died. She was 78.

Shakur, whose birth name was Joanne Deborah Byron, passed away Thursday in Havana, Cuba’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a statement.

“On September 25, 2025, American citizen Joanne Deborah Byron, ‘Assata Shakur,’ died in Havana, Cuba, from health problems and her advanced age,” read the statement, as translated from Spanish.

Shakur’s daughter, Kakuya Shakur, confirmed her death Friday on Facebook.

“At approximately 1:15 PM on September 25th, my mother, Assata Shakur, took her last earthly breath. Words cannot describe the depth of loss that I am feeling at this time,” the post read. “I want to thank you for your loving prayers that continue to anchor me in the strength that I need in this moment. My spirit is overflowing in unison with all of you who are grieving with me at this time.”

Born in Queens, New York in 1947, she grew up in New York City and Wilmington, North Carolina. After high school, Shakur attended the City College of New York, and married fellow student activist Louis Chesimard.

Following graduation, she adopted the name Assata, meaning “she who struggles.” She moved to Oakland, California, and joined the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army.

In 1977, she was convicted in the death of New Jersey State Police trooper Werner Foerster, who was killed in a shootout with activists after a traffic stop in 1973.

Shakur escaped from New Jersey’s Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979, and was granted political asylum in Cuba, where she remained until her death.

The FBI declared Shakur one of America’s Most Wanted fugitives for “domestic terrorism,” unlawful flight and murder.

The agency offered a seven figure reward for information leading to her capture. As of this afternoon, she was still listed as a fugitive on the FBI.gov website.

In a 1998 interview with NBC in Cuba, Shakur insisted she was innocent and had been wrongfully convicted by an all-white jury.

“I was shot with my arms in the air, then shot again in the back and left on the ground to die,” she said. “Next thing I knew, they were coming by me and saying, ‘Is she dead yet, is she dead yet?’”

She was close to Tupac Shakur’s family, and was the late rapper’s godmother and step-aunt, according to CNN.

Assata Shakur wrote a memoir and was the subject of the 2008 film Assata aka Joanne Chesimard by director Fred Baker.

Grammy-winning rapper Common paid tribute to her in his 2000 single “A Song for Assata.”

The lyrics include, “In the Spirit of God/In the Spirit of the Ancestors/
In the Spirit of the Black Panthers/In the Spirit of Assata Shakur/We make this movement towards freedom/For all those who have been oppressed, and all those in the struggle.”