BLA History, page 3
1955 -
THE PERSISTENCE OF DISCRIMINATION AND THE REVOLUTION OF RISING EXPECTATIONS
1957-1961 - Robert F. Williams, president of the Monroe, Union County, NC, NAACP chapter (author of "Negroes with Guns").
1959 -
STUDENT INVOLVEMENT
1960, Feb. 1 - Four NC A&T College students launch Student Movement in Greensboro. Sit-ins started in a new way.
Apr. 15 - Student Non-violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) organized on Shaw University campus.
* 1961, Jan. 16 - Patrice Lumumba assassinated.
THE BLACK MUSLIMS
1961, July 31 - Hon. Elijah Muhammad calls for the creation of a separate Black state in NY speech.
"FREEDOM NOW!"
1963 - Revolutionary Action Movement (RAM) was started.
May 27 - Philadelphia Black workers, led by RAM, attacked by whites on school construction site while demanding jobs for Black construction workers.
Aug. - The March on Washington.
THE FAILURE OF DIRECT ACTION/NEW DIRECTIONS
By 1964 and 1965, more militant individuals especially in SNCC, were toying with the idea that revolutionary violence might be necessary.
1964 - Deacons for Defense and Justice, a semi-secret Black organization armed for self-defense, organized in Louisiana to protect Blacks and CORE demonstrators of both races from white attackers.
May 1 - Afro-American Student Movement (ASM) organized at Fisk; is called the First National Afro-American Student Conference at Nashville.
34 COFO Freedom Schools in Miss. (inc. Ruleville).
1965 - Deacons for Defense and Justice spread from Louisiana into Mississippi and Alabama, and planned to expand throughout the South.
ORGANIZATIONAL RIVALRIES
Other groups: Black Guards, and militant individuals with SNCC ("Snick").
THE ROLE OF WHITES
1966, Jan. 4 - SNCC worker Sammy Younge, Jr., murdered in Tuskegee, Ala.
"BLACK POWER"
1966, Oct. - Black Panther Party for Self-Defense started in Oakland, California.
Late 1960's to early 1970's - BPP were in shoot-outs with police with empty weapons at times, or not enough ammunition.
1967 - The so-called RAM Plot.
1967, July 23 - Detroit Rebellion; 43 Afrikans murdered by police.
1967, Aug. 25 - FBI circulates memo detailing plans to "disrupt" Black Liberation Movement groups. (BPP was not on list).
1968, Mar. 4 - FBI memo issued to "prevent the coalition of militant Black nationalist groups."
1968, Mar. 31 - The Provisional Government of the Republic of New Afrika (RNA) was established in Detroit, Mich.
Apr. 4 - Assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.
Apr. 6 - Lil' Bobby Hutton murdered.
July 23 - Fred Ahmed Evans arrested for guerrilla ambush and killing of police, Cleveland, Ohio.
1969, Jan. - BPP allied with BLA; and became part of BLA.
1969, Jan. 24 - Chicago police and FBI conspire to prevent Fred Hampton of BPP from appearing on t.v. talk show.
1969, Apr. 2 - NY "21" BPP members arrested on conspiracy charges.
Apr. 26 - BPP office in Des Moines, Iowa, bombed.
May 26 - Fred Hampton arrested and charged with stealing and distributing ice cream.
June 4 - Detroit BPP office raided.
June 7 - Chicago BPP office raided.
June 15 - Sacramento and San Diego BPP offices raided.
MODERN PHASE OF BLACK LIBERATION ARMY:
1970, Jan. - BPP allied with BLA; and became part of BLA.
1970, Aug. - Russell Maroon Shoats joined BLA ("New Afrikan Liberation Army").
1970 ? - Some RAM members fled the country.
1971, Mar. 5 - BPP sponsors Day of Solidarity dedicated to "Freedom for all Political Prisoners."
Mar. 28 - Republic of New Afrika Capitol consecrated, Hinds County, Miss.
Aug. 18 - Republic of New Afrika Capitol attaked by FBI and Jackson, Miss., police.
Aug. 19 - FBI tries to assassinated Imari Obadele,RNA president.
Aug. 27 - Death of Kwame Nkrumah, Conakry, Guinea.
1972, Jan. - Russell Maroon Shoats captured.
1973, Jan. 7 - Mark Essex, 23, is killed atop New Orleans hotel after killing six and wounding fifteen.
1973, Jan. 19 - One police killed and two wounded as Black freedom fighters seize a Brooklyn sporting goods store.
* Jan. 20 - Amilcar Cabral assassinated by Portuguese agents.
May 2 - Zayd Malik Shakur (fsn James Coston) killed by state police on NJ Turnpike; Assata Shakur (fsn Joanne Chesimard) wounded and Sundiata Acoli (fsn Clark Squire) arrested.
1974, Apr. 17 - BLA "New Haven Three," Hodari Diallo (Harold Simmons), Ashanti (Michael Alston), and Gunnie (James Haskins) invade the Tombs in NY to liberate POWs.
1975, June 5 - POW escapes from prison in Jackson, Mich., by helicopter.
1976, Jan. 16 - Assata Shakur acquitted by NY Federal Grand Jury of a 1971 bank robbery charge.
1977, Jan. 17 - Assata Shakur begins 4th trial in New Brunswick, NJ, on frame-up charges of murdering a NJ state trooper and her comrade, Zayd Malik Shakur.
1977, Mar. 25 - All-white jury in New Brunswick, NJ, returns guilty verdict against Assata Shakur; she is immediately sentenced to life in prison.
Apr. 7 - Assata Shakur moved from Clinton's Women's Prison to the all-male Yardsville Prison in NJ.
Apr. 25 - Assata Shakur given additional, consecutive 33-year sentence on assault, weapons charges.
Sept. - Maroon escaped from Huntingdon, PA. 2 recaptured and a third killed. Maroon at large for one month.
1978 -
1979, Nov. 2 - Comrade-Sister Assata Shakur was liberated from Clinton Women' Prison, by BLA and NAAI members, and continues to carry on the struggle from Cuba.
1980, Mar. - Maroon and another POW escaped with help of female New Afrikan activist.
1981, Oct. 20th - Brinks armored car robbery/expropriation.
1982 -
1983 -
1984 -
1985 -
1986 -
1990 -
1993 -
1996 -
1998 - National Territory, plus Florida.
BIBLIOGRAPHY:
Baldwin, James. The Fire Next Time. The Dial Press, New York, c 1963.
Notes from a New Afrikan P.O.W. Journal, Books One thru Seven (Combined), Spear and Sheild Publications, Chicago, IL, c. 1986.
U.S. Riot Commission Report. Report of the National Advisory Commission on Civil Disorders. Bantam Books, New York, c. 1968.
Williams, Robert F. Negroes with Guns. Marzani & Munsell, Inc., New York, c. 1962.
REVISED: October 30, 2002, by Nat Turner Collective, BLA.
