Afeni Shakur Took on the State and Won
Pregnant and facing decades in prison, the mother of Tupac Shakur fought for her life — and triumphed — in the trial of the Panther 21.
Afeni Shakur at the Revolutionary People’s Constitutional Convention in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in September 1970. (David Fenton / Getty Images)
Afeni Shakur is ready to fight.
She’s already spent eleven months in the Women’s House of Detention and, although she’s out on bail, she is not free. It’s September 8, 1970, and she’s waiting inside the New York County Criminal Court in Manhattan. Seventeen months ago, she was indicted on charges including attempted murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and conspiracy to bomb buildings. A conviction threatens to send her behind bars for the remainder of her life.
And, to add to her troubles, she is pregnant with her first child — a boy.
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