Assata autobiography themes

This book suits those who enjoyed The Autobiography of Malcolm X or Angela Davis: An Autobiographyas it provides a raw, firsthand account of activism and struggles against systemic oppression. Assata Olugbala Shakur Joanne Chesimard. A Black revolutionary woman raised in North Carolina and New York, who becomes politically conscious and works toward Black liberation; she endures significant personal and legal challenges due to her activism.

Read our content pledge to explore how we innovate using AI combined with deep literary knowledge. Study Guide. Assata: An Autobiography. As a child, her first understanding of oppression is when she is only allowed into colored-only sections of the south and sees the stress her mother is under to be a good mother and an asset to society, while living in a world that is severely unjust.

She often becomes angry, sad, and frustrated when she sees the freedom white people had in contrast to the oppressed life she lived. The media only made the oppression worse by Browse all BookRags Study Guides. All rights reserved. Toggle navigation. Sign Up. Sign In. At the end of the chapter one of her aunt's friends sees her in the street and brings her back home, ending her stint of independence.

Shakur, after being acquitted in the bank robbery trial in the Southern District of New York, is sent back to New Jersey. In Morristown jail, she recalls friendly dealings with her friends, and continued harassment and racism from the prison guards. She recalls the fraudulent assata autobiography themes selection process, in which no Black people were selected.

As the trial proceeds, she becomes increasingly worn out to the point of illness, and contemplates her deteriorating mental health. She eventually realizes that she is pregnant. At first no one believes her. The various doctors she speaks to tell her that she is suffering from an intestinal disease. She spends her days alone in her jail cell contrasting the misery and ugliness of the world, with the beautiful, exciting anticipation of having a baby, of being a mother.

To conclude the chapter, she meets her new doctor, a man whom she feels reassured by. His name is Ernest Wyman Garret. Shakur's condition worsens, though, and Dr. Garrett realizes that she is in danger of miscarrying. A ruling is announced that she will be temporarily removed from the trial during her pregnancy, and Sundiata will be tried alone in the meantime.

This chapter follows Shakur living in Manhattan with her aunt, Evelyn, on 80th Street.

Assata autobiography themes

She delights in the new neighbourhood, the people, the many stores, the sights, the museums, and her growing interest in art—despite her contempt for the snobs who treat her poorly at the galleries. She contemplates her contempt for the rich, and her naive feelings of money as a solution to problems. While living on 80th Street, she spends most her time on the stoop viewing the various happenings, the coming and going of people, the fights, the arguments.

She tries to understand her feelings of excitement towards the "misery" and "malice" of this street. She describes the growing resentment she felt for one of her school teachers who discriminated against her for her music taste. She goes to an NAACP meeting in which she is unable to answer, to the organizers' satisfaction, a question about how to react if someone spits in her face while she is participating in a boycott.

She branches off of her recollection of her time with Evelyn, and begins to write about how she has grown to understand the world, and how she has come to understand that injustice and assata autobiography themes are at the heart of America. After being determined pregnant at Roosevelt Hospital, she is returned to Rikers Island prison to suffer with minimal medical attention and little to no food that suits her new dietary needs.

Her lawyers attempt to file for medical maltreatment but are thwarted by the malicious US judicial system which is determined to keep Shakur in inhumane conditions. When she goes into labour in Septembershe is taken to Elmhurst Hospital where she is prohibited from receiving treatment from her chosen doctor. A demonstration is held outside while her doctor and lawyer fight for her right to choose who delivers her baby.

In the meantime, Shakur declares she will deliver the baby herself, highlighting her strength in resisting oppression. Once the hospital eventually concedes to her demands, the baby is delivered with no complications but kept separated from Shakur for most of her hospital stay. Upon returning to the prison after a short recovery period, she is brutalized by a group of guards and unjustly thrown into the Punitive Segregation Area.

In this chapter, Shakur uses the depiction of the hardships she endures during her pregnancy to show how difficult it can be to maintain hope, but that it is always worth it when you are protecting the future for new life. At first, she expresses excitement at being a part of a community and working for a great company, until she realizes how little the company cares for her as an individual.

Shakur discusses a time in which one of her white colleagues brings up the riots of the s and asks for her opinion after going on about how Black people were burning down their own neighbourhoods for nothing, to which Shakur helplessly agrees. The next time the topic comes up at work, she decides to express her true opinion, eventually resulting in her being fired.

At this point, she begins to become more passionate about local and global issues, specifically when it comes to arguing with those who disagree. It is not until she makes friends with a few African men and embarrasses herself with her lack of knowledge surrounding the war with Vietnam, that she realizes she has never doubted the word of the United States government.

This prompts her to begin doing her own research as well as cements her distrust in the government. As her perception evolves, she expresses feeling as if she does not fit in any one group, leading to her seeking opportunities to become more involved in her community. She gets a job at an employment agency and helps put together a conference to provide young Black college students with interviews for big corporations.

Shakur is then saddened to realize that a great many students paid hundreds of dollars to be at this conference only for a select few to secure interviews. In this chapter, Shakur shows how her perception and interpretation of global events and issues has changed as she expands her knowledge base and begins conversing with others like her. This chapter focuses on the accusation and unjust arrest of Assata Shakur.

This chapter illustrates the quick escalation between her and the law. Assata becomes a victim of police brutality and an unfair judicial system in which she is ultimately accused of a Queen's bank robbery. Although she pleads not guilty and is returned to the workhouse, in a turn of events she, is then forced to wear the same clothes as the robber in the robbery she is accused of, and her photograph is superimposed over the original photo of the thief to convince the jury in her trial that she is guilty.

However, before the first trial for the supposed bank robbery, she must undergo a trial for being accused of kidnapping of a known drug dealer for ransom, along with two others, in which the case is acquitted. Here we see a new form of Assata who is evolving while attending a community college in Manhattan. As she is attending college she encounters many individuals whose ideals align with her political viewpoints.

During her time at college, she takes a closer look at the history of oppression. Through her research, she finds that the institutions that are tasked with educating the general population have fallen short on educating the general public on the history of oppression. While engaging in research she learns of the prosecution of people of colour which fuels her desire to contribute to assata autobiography themes change.

Throughout her autobiography she talks about prosecuting the individuals who are creating systematic injustice and bodily harm towards African Americans and a form of rebellion to ensue. She changes colleges and experiences more radicalization towards social change and the revolution for equality. She states that for things to change in this revolution white radicals, hippies, individuals of Mexican descent, African Americans, and individuals of Asian descent would have to join for real social change to be made.

While working as an assistant to a doctor in Alcatraz she witnesses Indigenous people protesting. She comes to the realization that true history will never be taught or learned as the education system only remembers one type of history. She later seeks the Black Panther Party who she greatly admires. Following her acquittal regarding the previous kidnapping charge, Assata is moved to the Manhattan Correctional Centerwhere she still experiences persecution but also reunites with former cellmates and experiences more freedom in the general population as opposed to being in isolation.

She faces another trial regarding the case of her bank robbery and is worried about being convicted, but the case is surprisingly overturned and she is acquitted. However, right after this case she is sent back to Rikers Island and placed in solitary confinement once more. Assata : An Autobiography. Assata Shakur. Zed Books Ltd.