Free yourself by any means necessary. The militant pedagogy of Assata and Afeni Shakur

Abstract

Like most narrations, the history of the most radical Afro-descendant movements is often told from a male perspective, through the biographies of charismatic leaders. According to a survey conducted by Bobby Seale in 1969, however, Black Panther Party was predominantly made up of and supported by women, with two-thirds of its members being female. It was women who ran the survival programmes and fought most strenuously alongside the community to raise political awareness. In this context, this essay intends to recount the existential trajectories and identity perspectives of two Panthers who have dedicated their lives to political activism. Through Assata Shakur’s An Autobiography and Evolution of a Revolutionary, a book by Jasmine Guy dedicated to the adventurous life of Afeni Shakur, the aim is to bring to light the personal experiences that led them to unmask the systemic dynamics of othering and to commit themselves to imagining a more just and equitable world, in which no one should be monstrosified because of their ethnicity or sexual identity.