Happy Birthday, Assata Shakur: 79 Years Later, Her Legacy Still Calls Us To ‘Carry It On’

Today would have been Assata Shakur’s 79th birthday. Although the legendary freedom fighter joined the ancestors on Sept. 25, 2025, her memory, legacy, and impact are still here to remind us that the work is not done and that we have so much more to accomplish. 

If you had been in the room at the Riverside Church in New York on May 30 as we celebrated the life of Assata the mother, Assata the grandmother, Assata the activist, Assata the freedom fighter, Assata the author, Assata the Black Panther, and Assata the political target, you would understand that “Carry It On” is not just a phrase from a poem or a refrain heard often throughout the service; it is a mantra and a mandate that we keep pushing, keep remembering, keep preserving, and keep fighting. 

The best way to do all of those things in Assata’s name is to remember her and her work, and the Assata Shakur Archives Project seeks to do just that.

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