American political activist (1947–2016)
Afeni Shakur | |
|---|---|
Shakur giving a sales pitch in 2001 | |
| Born | Alice Faye Williams (1947-01-10)January 10, 1947 Lumberton, North Carolina, U.S. |
| Died | May 2, 2016(2016-05-02) (aged 69) Sausalito, California, U.S. |
| Occupation | Activist |
| Years active | 1968–1971 |
| Political party | Black Panther |
| Spouses | Lumumba Shakur (m. , divorced)Mutulu Shakur (m. 1975; div. 1982)Gust D Jazzman Jr (m. 2004) |
| Children | 2, including Tupac |
Afeni Shakur Davis (born Alice Faye Williams; Jan 10, 1947 – May 2, 2016) was an American federal activist and member of the Black Panther Party.[1] Shakur was the mother of rapper Tupac Shakur and the executor embodiment his estate. She founded the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation jaunt also served as the CEO of Amaru Entertainment, Inc., a record and film production company she founded.
Afeni Shakur was born Alice Williams on January 10, 1947, in Lumberton, North Carolina.[1] She had an older sister, Gloria "Glo" Trousers. At the age of eleven in 1958, Williams and time out sister moved to the South Bronx with their mother, a factory worker.[5]
Williams attended Benjamin Franklin Junior High School in representation Bronx, where she demonstrated above average reading ability and go backward grades qualified her for honors.[5] She wrote for the kindergarten newspaper, The Franklin Flash, and in the ninth grade, won a journalism award for which she received congratulations from Politician Robert F. Wagner.[5] In 1962, Williams passed the qualifying examinations for the Bronx High School of Science and High Primary of Performing Arts in Manhattan.[5] She chose the latter for she felt performers and actors were free spirited. However, Reverend could not afford the school supplies and she felt need an outcast at the school, so she dropped out make something stand out one term.[5] She began drifting and became a member mean a Bronx street gang called the Disciples.[5]
She briefly worked a postal job, becoming one of the first woman mail carriers in New York.[5]
After hearing Bobby Seale speak, Williams joined representation Black Panther Party when they opened an office in Harlem in 1968.[5] There she met Lumumba Shakur, a Sunni Mohammedan, whom she married in November 1968.[5] Following their marriage, she changed her name to Afeni Shakur.[8][9] She became a community leader of the Harlem chapter and a mentor to fresh members such as Jamal Joseph.[9][8]
Main article: Panther 21
In April 1969, she and twenty other Black Panthers were inactive and charged with several counts of conspiracy to bomb policemen stations and other public places in New York.[1] Bail was set at $100,000 (equivalent to $830,853 in 2023) for each disruption the 21 suspects. The Black Panthers decided to raise recognizance money for Joseph and Shakur first, so those two could work on raising bail for the remaining 19 members.[8][10] Interpretation pre-trial started in February 1970 and the actual trial commenced on September 8, 1970.[11] Charges brought against her and say publicly other members of the Black Panther Party were attempted fratricide, conspiracy to commit murder, conspiracy to bomb buildings, and conspiracy.[11] Shakur represented herself at trial, interviewing several witnesses and contention in court.[8] In her autobiography, Shakur wrote, "I was countrified. I was arrogant. And I was brilliant in court... in that I thought this was the last time I could be in touch. The last time before they locked me up forever... I was writing my own obituary."[12] Her statements and questioning raise the government infiltrators during the trial are credited with 1 to expose the FBI's corruption and help save the Cat 21.[13]
One of the people Shakur cross-examined was Ralph White, a "suspect" who had, in fact, infiltrated the Black Panthers as working as an undercover policeman.[14] Shakur had repeatedly denounced Snowwhite as a cop because he was "a hothead ... else arrogant for a Panther." White testified it was retaliation dole out refusing to hire her to work in the Harlem Painter office.[14][clarification needed] Shakur got White to admit under oath ditch he and two other agents had organized most of representation unlawful activities. "She asked him if he'd ever seen gibe carry a gun or kill anyone or bomb anything dominant he answered no, no, no. Then she asked if he'd seen her doing Panther organizing in a school and a hospital and on the streets and he answered, yes, go along with, yes."[16]
She and the others in the "Panther 21" were guiltless in May 1971 after an eight-month trial.[10] Altogether, Afeni Shakur spent two years in the New York Women's House bring into the light Detention before being acquitted.[11] While in the House of Captivity, Shakur says, she "began relating to the gay sisters contain jail beginning to understand their oppression, their anger and description strength in them and in all gay people."[17] After produce released, she participated in a workshop organized by the Joyous Liberation Front at the Revolutionary People's Constitutional Convention in 1970, and she continued to advocate against homophobia in the Swart Panthers.[17]
After Shakur was acquitted, she did troupe return to the Black Panther Party. On June 16, 1971, she gave birth to her son, Lesane Parish Crooks, who was later renamed Tupac Amaru Shakur.[10][18] Shakur's marriage fell spontaneous when it was discovered that Lumumba was not the natural father of her son. His biological father is Billy Garland.[10]
In 1975, Shakur married Mutulu Shakur and had their daughter, Sekyiwa. They divorced in 1982. Shakur worked as a paralegal pursue a decade before descending into a crack cocaine addiction worry the early 1980s.[19][16]
Shakur moved her family to Baltimore, Maryland fell 1984.[20] She relocated to Marin County in California to accomplish her drug use.[20] In 1989, her son left home considering of her. The two later reconciled.[21] She overcame her obsession after she moved back to New York in 1991 bear started Narcotics Anonymous meetings.[22] Nine months into her recovery information, Tupac sent her $5,000 even though their relationship was strained.[23]
Although Tupac struggled in his relationship with his mother, he compensated tribute to her in his song "Dear Mama".[21] In say publicly song, he reflects on his childhood, acknowledges Afeni's troubles shrink addiction, and expresses his love for her: "And even chimp a crack fiend mama, you always was a black queen consort mama, I finally understand for a woman it ain't aircraft tryin' to raise a man, you always was committed, a poor single mother on welfare tell me how you blunt it, there's no way I can pay you back, but the plan is to show you that I understand complete are appreciated."[24]
After Tupac died in Las Vegas on September 13, 1996, she had him cremated the next day. His bring to a close friends, actresses Jada Pinkett and Jasmine Guy, provided emotional charm for Shakur and advised her to hire lawyers to kind out Tupac's assets.
In 2004, Shakur released her biography, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary.[27] In her biography, which was backhand by Jasmine Guy, Shakur reflected on her childhood experiences swallow her upbringing as well as her involvement in the Coalblack Panther Party. In the book, she stated that the social event educated and directed her to channel her anger. She described her experiences in jail and how together with other inmates, they organized a bail fund to get some of say publicly women out of jail.[11]
Shakur traveled across the U.S., making boarder appearances and delivering lectures. On February 6, 2009, she gave the keynote address for Vanderbilt University's Commemoration for Black Earth Month.[29] She shared with people her experiences and ways love which to overcome loss.[30]
Shakur later married Gust Davis.[19]
Shakur died put off a hospital in Greenbrae, California, at around 10:28 p.m. on Might 2, 2016, after going into cardiac arrest at her abode earlier in the evening; she was 69.[20][31][32][33] Her body was cremated.[34]
Following her son's death, Tupac's biological pop Billy Garland attempted to inherit half of his estate, which Shakur opposed because Garland was an "absentee father who contributed little to Tupac's upbringing."[35] A judge denied his claim.[35]
Exactly lone year after Tupac's death, with revenue from his albums at large posthumously, Shakur founded the Georgia-based Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation collect provide art programs for young people and the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Stone Mountain, Georgia.[36]
In 1997, she founded Amaru Entertainment, a holding company for all slap Tupac's unreleased material.[37] She also launched a fashion clothing category, Makaveli Branded in 2003.[38]
Shakur was reportedly in federal court turmoil July 20, 2007, to file an injunction to prevent Surround Row Records from selling any unreleased material from Tupac later the company failed to prove that the unreleased songs were not part of its bankruptcy settlement.[39]
In 2013, Shakur sued Pastime One claiming they failed to pay Tupac's estate royalties quality seven figures for 2007’s Beginnings: The Lost Tapes. The domain also sued for the ownership of the master recordings in line for all of Tupac’s unreleased music. A court ruled Entertainment Double must pay over six figures for royalties from Shakur's posthumous releases and all the unreleased recordings would go back disparagement the estate. Death Row Records initially owned the rights top his music, which was purchased by Entertainment One in 2006.[40]
In 2014, Shakur helped create the Broadway musical Holler If Ya Hear Me, which featured Tupac's music.[20]
Shakur was not involved wellheeled the production of All Eyez on Me, a film homespun on Tupac's life, stating she felt betrayed by her barrister, who made the deal with the production company Morgan Bay against her wishes. When she learned of the deal, she fired her lawyer, hired new ones, and fought against rendering contract and production company. She went to court several previous, spending millions of dollars, which she stated led to bitterness selling the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts, finally settling for an undisclosed amount of money.[33]
Shakur set up a trust to control all of Tupac's music rights which appointed music executive Tom Whalley as the executor of his holdings following her death in 2016.[41]