American-Cuban criminal and activist (died 2025)

Assata Shakur

Assata Olugbala Shakur was an American political activist, revolutionary, and fugitive who was a member of the Black Panther Party, and later the Black Liberation Army. In 1977, she was convicted of the first-degree murder of New Jersey State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. She escaped from prison in 1979 and was wanted by the FBI, with a $1 million reward for information leading to her capture, and an additional $1 million reward offered by the New Jersey attorney general. She was never caught and remained a fugitive for 45 years.

Born

1947

July 16

Died

Living

Era

1940s

Country

—

About

Assata, in brief

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

1947 Born

Also on July 16

What else happened on this day, through history

622 The Hijrah of Muhammad begins, marking the beginning of the Islamic calendar.
997 Battle of Spercheios: Bulgarian forces of Tsar Samuel are defeated by a Byzantine army under general Nikephoros Ouranos at the Spercheios River in Greece.
1054 Three Roman legates break relations between Western and Eastern Christian churches through the act of placing a papal bull of excommunication on the altar of Hagia Sophia during Saturday afternoon divine liturgy. Historians frequently describe the event as the formal start of the East–West Schism.
1212 Battle of Las Navas de Tolosa: After Pope Innocent III calls European knights to a crusade, the forces of kings Alfonso VIII of Castile, Sancho VII of Navarre, Peter II of Aragon and Afonso II of Portugal defeat those of the Berber Muslim leader Almohad, thus marking a significant turning point in the Reconquista and in the medieval history of Spain.

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The world in 1947

When Assata arrived

april 1 The only mutiny in the history of the Royal New Zealand Navy begins.
april 15 Jackie Robinson debuts for the Brooklyn Dodgers, breaking baseball's color line.
april 16 An explosion on board a freighter in port causes Texas City in the state of Texas, United States, to catch fire, killing almost 600 people.
april 16 Bernard Baruch first applies the term "Cold War" to describe the relationship between the United States and the Soviet Union.

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Same-day contemporaries

Also born on July 16

Alexander Luria 1902– Russian psychologist and physician (died 1977) Claude Lemieux 1965– Canadian ice hockey player Gordon Prange 1910–1980 American historian, author, and academic (died 1980) Hermine Braunsteiner 1919–1999 Austrian-German SS officer (born 1919) Larry Sanger 1968– American philosopher and businessman, co-founded Wikipedia and Citizendium Michael Flatley 1958– American-Irish dancer and choreographer Rubén Blades 1948– Panamanian singer-songwriter, guitarist, and actor Samuel Huntington 1731–1796 American jurist and politician, 18th Governor of Connecticut (born 1731) Sheri S. Tepper 1929–2016 American author and poet (died 2016)

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Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1947

Arnold Schwarzenegger 1947– Austrian-American bodybuilder, actor, and politician, 38th Governor of California Alain Bashung 1947– French singer-songwriter and actor (died 2009) Albert Brooks 1947– American actor, comedian, director, and screenwriter Andrea Martin 1947– American-Canadian actress, singer, and screenwriter Ángel Nieto 1947– Spanish motorcycle racer (died 2017) Angry Anderson 1947– Australian singer and actor Anton Mosimann 1947– Swiss chef and author Barry Melton 1947– American singer-songwriter and guitarist Bob Weir 1947–2026 American musician, (born 1947)

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More to explore

Assata's birthday July 16 Assata's zodiac Cancer When Assata arrived 1947