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Book Cover for: Freedom Fighter: My Life as a Soldier in the Black Liberation Army, Sekou Odinga

Freedom Fighter: My Life as a Soldier in the Black Liberation Army

Sekou Odinga

A memoir of a man and a movement, here is a defining and never-before-shared contribution to the story of Black Power

Freedom Fighter is the searing, urgent story of an elder statesman of Black political activism--whose story has never been fully told until now.

A recently freed political prisoner who served a thirty-three-year sentence, Sekou Odinga is the co-founder of the New York Black Panther Party chapter and the person responsible for liberating fellow Black revolutionary Assata Shakur from prison in 1973, allowing her to escape to Cuba--where she still lives.

Written in collaboration with celebrated author asha bandele, Freedom Fighter explores Odinga's political awakening, his years in struggle as a member of the Black Panther Party in the United States and Algeria, his role in the Black Liberation Army, and his decade living underground as a soldier fighting to end America's war against Black people--before his capture, torture, and imprisonment by the U.S. government. Odinga's story excavates some of the most important Black-led organizing and political strategies of our lifetime, which laid the foundation for radical Black organizing, advocacy, and culture for decades to come.

For listeners of the Mother Country Radicals podcast and readers of Albert Woodfox's National Book Award finalist Solitary, this biography of a man and a movement is required reading for all who seek to truly understand the modern age of Black struggle.

Book Details

  • Publisher: New Press
  • Publish Date: Oct 6th, 2026
  • Pages: 224
  • Language: English
  • Edition: undefined - undefined
  • Dimensions: 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00in - 0.00lb
  • EAN: 9781620976432
  • Categories: African American & BlackAfrican American & BlackCultural & Ethnic Studies - American - African American & Bl

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About the Author

Odinga, Sekou: -

Sekou Odinga is a founding member of the Harlem-Bronx chapter of the Black Panther Party and the Black Panther International Section, as well as a member of the NY Panther 21. A citizen of the Republic of New Afrika and a combatant of the Black Liberation Army, he was captured in 1981, mercilessly tortured, and spent the following thirty-three years behind bars as a prisoner of war and political prisoner of the U.S. empire. Since his release in 2014, he has remained a stalwart fighter for justice and for the release of all political prisoners.

Bandele, Asha: -

asha bandele is the New York Times bestselling co-author with Patrisse Cullors of the National Book Award-winning When They Call You a Terrorist and the award-winning author of The Prisoner's Wife and several other works. Honored for her work in journalism and activism, asha is a mother, a former senior editor at Essence, and a former senior director at the Drug Policy Alliance.

More books by Sekou Odinga

Book Cover for: Look for Me in the Whirlwind: From the Panther 21 to 21st-Century Revolutions, Sekou Odinga