Assata Olugbala Shakur is a former member of the Black Liberation Army, who was convicted of being an accomplice in the first-degree murder of State Trooper Werner Foerster during a shootout on the New Jersey Turnpike in 1973. While serving a life sentence for murder, she escaped from the Clinton Correctional Facility for Women in 1979. She surfaced in Cuba in 1984, where she was granted political asylum. Shakur has lived in Cuba since then. She has been on the FBI Most Wanted Terrorists list since 2013.

Shakur's autobiography written by her is a very important testimony, sheds light on the American black freedom movement. In the book, she shares her how she took part in the black freedom movement in the 1970s, what she lived during that process, her nightmare years with Nixon, the days she spent in prison, her  escape from prison, her decision to live in Cuba. Assata: An Autobiography was published by British publication Zed Books Ltd in 1987.