WHAT IS BLACK AUGUST?
resistance against the prison system. Prison guards killed him in 1971, when he allegedly tried to escape, though stories from the authorities were not consistent. Both of the brothers’ deaths left a lasting mark on the Black Liberation movement. Black August became a time to honor those who resisted systemic racism from within and beyond prison walls. Though it’s not widely commercialized, the observance is held close by grassroots organizers and scholars today. AUGUST HAS ALWAYS BEEN SIGNIFICANT. August is a significant time in Black history, with many crucial moments that sparked justice and movement. In August 1619, the first group of enslaved Africans arrived in Virginia. In 1955, a group of white men brutally murdered 14-year-old Emmett Till in Mississippi. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. gave his famous “I Have a Dream” speech on Aug. 28, 1963. Even in more modern times, August saw the nomination of America’s first Black president in 2008, and on Aug. 26, 2016, NFL player Colin Kaepernick first protested police brutality during the national anthem. WHY BLACK AUGUST STILL MATTERS. The issues that Black August was born out of in the 1970s haven’t gone away; they have evolved. Though we have made a lot of progress, many of the same challenges, like mass incarceration, unequal access to opportunity, and police brutality, still impact Black communities. This long legacy of Black resistance lives on in movements like Black Lives Matter, and its impacts can still be seen in many of the rights and freedoms we have today, hard-won victories that continue to shape American life. Black August reminds us of what collective action can achieve, and it lives on in modern organizers, educators, and artists who continue to push for a more just future. As we honor the past, Black August challenges us to stay informed and keep moving toward the future our ancestors fought so hard for. HONORING RESISTANCE, IGNITING CHANGE
Each August, communities across the U.S. pause to honor a month of remembrance known as Black
August. It’s a time to reflect on the lives and legacies of black freedom fighters, political prisoners, and grassroots organizers who stood against systemic racism and state
violence. Born out of the prison resistance movement of the 1970s, this lesser-known observance is both a memorial and a call to action. It’s a mirror to the present, and a reminder that many of the rights we have today, like voting protections, desegregation, and fair housing, were only achieved through decades of organizing, sacrifice, and collective struggle. Looking back on the Civil Rights and Black Power movements of the 1950s, ’60s, and ’70s, you can see how today’s activism draws strength from that lineage, still fighting for justice, peace, and liberation for all. WHAT IS BLACK AUGUST? Black August started in the 1970s inside San Quentin Prison as a response to the murder of Black Panther George Jackson and his 17-year-old brother Jonathan Peter Jackson. George Jackson was imprisoned for allegedly stealing $70 and would go on to start the San Quentin Prison’s Black Panther chapter. In 1970, he and several others were accused without evidence in the death of a prison guard and sent to Soledad Prison, where he faced the death penalty. A few months later, his younger brother Jonathan organized what would become known as the Marin County Courthouse Slave Rebellion. They took several hostages in an attempt to free the men and expose the brutally racist conditions in California prisons. Jonathan and two others were killed in the shootout, and the only surviving member of their group, lawyer Ruchell “Cinque” Magee, would spend the remainder of his life as a political prisoner, only released in 2023 and passing away 80 days later. George Jackson would go on to tell his brother’s story and become a voice of
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