Afeni Shakur and Joan Bird speak at a Panther 21 press conference

1971

AP newsfilm of Afeni Shakur and co-defendant Joan Bird addressing the press during the Panther 21 case in New York. Afeni was pregnant with Tupac through the trial and conducted part of her own defence; she and her co-defendants were acquitted in May 1971. This is the political inheritance the archive starts from, in his mother's own voice.