Assata: An Autobiography

In junior high school, Shakur witnessed in the media the shooting of Martin Luther King Jr., the bus boycotts incited by Rosa Parks’s activism, and the white lynch mob that attacked young Black children in Little Rock, Arkansas. This impacted her understanding of how the world treated Black people. Meanwhile, her mother and stepfather’s tense relationship at home created a lot of conflict for her. She frequently ran away.

When Shakur first ran away, she met David, a boy who let her stay with him, though his frequent attempts to have sexual intercourse with her threatened her sense of safety so much so that she was forced to find other accommodations. She then met Tina, whose mother took care of other children who needed a home, claiming that she “just loved to have young people around her” (76). Shakur realized soon that Tina’s mother forced Tina and other youth to steal. She stole clothing with Tina at first. Then, Tina’s mother made Shakur steal a pair of diamond earrings. This made Shakur nervous. Though she was successful in stealing the earrings, she felt that she could not continue stealing for a living.

Shakur also met a boy named Tyrone, who was a member of the Fort Greene Chaplins gang.