Pitt’s Black Action Society to Host Sept. 17 Lecture by Afeni Shakur, Mother of the Late Rapper Tupac Shakur

PITTSBURGH—Afeni Shakur, founder and CEO of the Tupac Amaru Shakur Foundation and mother of the late rapper Tupac Shakur, will speak during the University of Pittsburgh Black Action Society’s annual Indaba ceremony, from 6:15 to 7:30 p.m., Sept. 17 in the William Pitt Union Assembly Room, 3959 Fifth Ave., Oakland. The lecture, which is open to the public, will be followed by a question-and-answer session. 

The Indaba ceremony introduces the new leadership of the Black Action Society to their constituency and the Pitt community. Literally translated, Indaba means the “gathering of kings.” Traditionally, it is a council and/or meeting of indigenous people of southern Africa to discuss topics of importance. 

Afeni Shakur is founder of Amaru Entertainment, Inc., and a nationally renowned advocate for youth rights.  In 2005, Shakur organized the “Keep the Youth Alive” campaign in an effort to educate youth about the high risk of teenage mortality. She also established the Tupac Amaru Shakur Center for the Arts in Atlanta, whose outreach programs and seminars promote the freedom of expression through the performing arts. 

A follower of the teachings of Malcolm X, Shakur has a history of activism. As a young woman, she joined the Black Panther Party, was arrested in the “New York Panther 21” case in 1969, and defended herself successfully against 156 charges related to this arrest. 

Shakur published The Rose That Grew From Concrete (Simon & Schuster, 1999), a collection of her son’s poetry obtained from his personal notebooks. Her most recent book, Afeni Shakur: Evolution of a Revolutionary (Simon & Schuster, 2005), was nominated by the NAACP Image Awards for Outstanding Literary Work in the nonfiction category. 

Tupac Shakur—influential rap artist, actor, poet, record producer, and social activist—was one of the best-selling music artists in the world, with global sales of more than 75 million albums. He died in 1996 at the age of 25, after being shot as he sat in a car at a red light in Las Vegas.

For more information, contact Jacquett C. Wade, coordinator of Pitt’s Cross Cultural and Leadership Development office, at 412-648-7834. 

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