Afeni Shakur is the mother of hip hop icon Tupac Shakur, but her life story as a Black woman revolutionary involves her self-representation and acquittal in the Panther 21 trial. 

Angela Davis was accused of being involved in the 1970 Marin County Courthouse uprising to liberate George Jackson, one of the most central figures in the observance of Black August. As a result, she was charged with murder which led to the infamous “Free Angela Davis” campaign.

Poster designed by Kalah Byrd. Content written by Angelica Harris.

Born August 10, 1858, Anna Julia Cooper was an educator, writer, and intellectual who authored A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South, in which she emphasized the pivotal role that Black women play in the upliftment of the entire race.

Designed by Adiellah Bates. Content collected by Angelina Dixon

Assata Shakur's life story and ideas are at the forefront of Black resistance movements because of how they inspire and raise awareness for the plight and  release of political and exiled political prisoners.

Poster designed by Adiellah "Adi" Bates. Content collected by Maimouna Hale.

Audley "Queen Mother" Moore is central to the Black Freedom movement and prison justice. Her work for Black sovereignty is recognized as a key influence in the observance of Black August.

Audre Lorde's advocacy and views have influenced intersectional feminist ideology and have inserted self care into the habits of activists, leaders, and organizers.

Cécile Fatiman was a vodou priestess whose involvement in the Bois Caiman ceremony in August of 1791 is considered a catalyst of the Haitian Revolution (August 21, 1791) whereby she prophesied and encouraged enslaved people to rise up to overthrow colonial rule.

Elaine Brown was the first and only woman to ever lead the Black Panther Party whose book A Taste Of Power reveals both the beautiful work and vision of the party while also speaking to the misogyny that was also at play. The prison reform that she and many others advocate for is central to the observance of Black August.

Designed by Adiellah Bates. Content collected by Lindiwe Famodou.

Ericka Huggins is known for her spiritual wellness practices that sustained her life while incarcerated due to her activism, she was one of the longest serving women in the Black Panther Party and was the director of the party’s Oakland Community School.

Poster designed by Adiellah Bates. Content collected by Zarinah Conry.

Harriet Tubman's strategically planned route to freedom became known as the “Underground Railroad” which first appeared by that name in an article written in August 10, 1842 by Thomas Smallwood.

Henrietta Lacks was born on August 1, 1920. Although never having given consent, her cells known as “HeLa cells” were the first ever to have been immortalized and are at the center of medical research.  

Joan Little became the first woman to be acquitted of murder, on August 15, 1975, after killing a prison guard who raped her while in her cell thus becoming a central figure to the Black August movement. 

Prime Minister Mia Mottle is the first woman to lead the Barbados Labour Party and to become Prime Minister, she leads her country by being grounded in its cultural traditions, history, and a clear vision for the future.

On August 1, 1834 Barbados was emancipated from slavery however, it was not until 1838 that the apprenticeship system that kept formerly enslaved people working without pay for plantation owners was abolished.

Poster designed by Kalah Byrd. Content written by Intisar Rashid.

Texas Representative Nicole Collier slept overnight in the state house chambers, on August 18,20205, after refusing to submit to a Republican mandate that Democratic lawmakers only be allowed leave by police escort and by having a “permission slip”. 

Nikole Hannah Jones is the author of the New York Times 1619 Project (released August 18, 2019), an award winning publication that reframes the August 1619 arrival of 20 enslaved Africans to an English Colony of Virginia, as the center of America’s founding narrative. 

Poster designed by Adiellah Bates. Content collected by Tambra Omiyale Harris.

Monifa Bandele is a grassroots organizer whose quotes, interviews, and videos are a primary source of information that describe and perpetuate Black August. 

Ramona Africa is one of only two survivors of the Philadelphia police’s bombing of the MOVE residence in which 11 members of the MOVE organization were killed. Her story grotesquely depicts the structural racism that has allowed government institutions to target and murder Black liberationists, a central theme to the observance of Black August. 

Toni Morrison was born on February 18, 1931 and died on August 5, 2019. As one of the most celebrated authors in the world, she was the first Black woman to win the Nobel Peace Prize in Literature whose work spans plays, children’s books, and novels.

Poster designed by Adiellah Bates. Content collected by Nikia Waithe.