George Jackson and the Origins of Black August - Poster of the Week

Remember George Jackson

Prairie Fire Organizing Committee

Fireworks Graphics

Offset, 1981

10926

"I don't want to die and leave a few sad songs and a hump in the ground as my only monument. I want to leave a world that is liberated from trash, pollution, racism, nation-states, nation-state wars and armies, from pomp, bigotry, parochialism, a thousand different brands of untruth and licentious, usurious economics."

—George Jackson (1970). "Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson," Chicago Review Press

This week is the 51st anniversary of the murder of George Jackson, Black Panther, activist, and author, by prison guards at San Quentin State Prison. Although the official line is that he was killed trying to escape, the circumstances of his death are still debated as the police kept changing their story.

In 1960, despite evidence of his innocence, Jackson was sentenced from one year to life for stealing $70. He was 18 and spent ten years in Soledad prison — seven and a half of them in solitary confinement. While incarcerated, Jackson was influenced by other politicized prisoners and became a revolutionary. He co-founded the Black Guerrilla Family (BGF) with W. L. Nolen, and became a leader in the prisoner rights movement. His writings and de