Description

View of a rally in Central City Park (now Woodruff Park) in downtown Atlanta, Georgia for JoAnne Chesimard, a member of the Black Panther Party imprisoned for killing a New Jersey state trooper.JoAnne Byron Chesimard (1947- ), also known as Assata Olugbala Shakur, was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. Between 1971 and 1973, she was accused of several crimes and became the subject of a multi-state manhunt, which ended in a shootout in New Jersey and the death of a state trooper. Chesimard was subsequently convicted of first-degree murder. Human rights groups later criticized the way she was being treated in prison. She escaped from prison in 1979 and later sought political asylum in Cuba, where she remains.

Record Contributed By

Atlanta History Center

Record Harvested From

Digital Library of Georgia