Assata : The Fearsome JoAnne

Assata means "she who struggles"
My junior year of high school, 2001, a kid in my math class handed me a book, Assata: An Autobiography about Black Panther Assata Shakur. Currently, under political asylum in Cuba, she was arrested and convicted of murder in 1977, on flimsy evidence.
I read it and never get her story out of my head. (Also, if you know me, I don't read books) I admired her strong will and defiance of the life she was "supposed" to lead, as a black woman in America in the 1960's.
Her journey as a woman traveling through life and through the prison system shook me. I have been using and finding strength through her name ever since.
Coincidentally, she spent her childhood in Wilmington and Carolina Beach.
Ruby is also from high school, a much less remarkable story.