Assata: An Autobiography

In junior high school, Assata 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 Assata 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. Then, she met Tina, whose mother took care of other children who needed a home as she “just loved to have young people around her” (76). Assata 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 Assata steal a pair of diamond earrings. This made Assata nervous. Though she was successful in stealing the earrings, she felt that she could not continue stealing for a living.

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