On July 14, 1947 Assata Olugbala Shakur was born. Her birth name is Joanne Deborah Byron and married name was Joanne Chesimard. Shortly after her birth, her mother and father divorced. Young Shakur lived with her mother, her aunt, and her grandmother and grandfather in Jamaica, New York. At the age of three, she moved with her grandparents to the house where her grandpa was raised in Wilmington, North Carolina. .
Her early childhood was spent working for her grandparents in the restaurant and on the beach. Her grandfather instilled in her a love of the written word, and she spent a great deal of her time reading to satisfy her imagination. Her family tried to infuse in her a sense of personal dignity, "you are as good as anyone else. Don't let anyone tell you that they"re better than you." Her grandparents would not let her say "yes ma"am" or "yes sir" and she was to look at white people in the eyes when she talked to them.
Shakur's grandparents opened up a business on their beachfront property. Her early childhood was spent working for her grandparents in the restaurant and on the beach. As a kid she would go to the beach and while she was there she would notice that most of the blacks were wearing clothes to swim in. They would say, "I cant stand the sun," "I"m too black already, I ain't going out in no sun." She couldn't believe people were saying this. .
Her school was segregated, but in her case the teachers "took more of an interest because they lived in our world, in the same neighborhoods." She felt like they tried to protect her as much as they could. Assata went to a school dance and no one would dance with her. Richard Kennedy, a boy in her class came over and said, "if you give me a dime, I"ll dance with you." She said that she though about giving him the dime, so she would be the only one not dancing. .
Assata hated the smell of her hair and she wanted to have curls like Shirley Temple.