H. Rap Brown

Known today as Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin, In the 1960's H. Rap Brown was a well known activist and member of the Black Panthers. Born in 1943, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Brown became a militant leader of the black liberation struggle. He was known for his outspoken advocacy of armed self-defense and inner city rebellions. He became a leader of the most violent of the civil rights organizations--the Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee (SNCC) and led it's members to overthrow Jim Crow segregation. He and fellow leader Stokely Carmichael advocated Black Power and a spirit of "by any means necessary."

Openly critical of peaceful leaders like Martin Luther King Jr., Brown mocked their role by saying, "Violence is as American as cherry pie." Some thirty years later, Al-Amin was involved in a shooting with Atlanta police officers , and is imprisoned , once again claiming , "It's a government conspiracy."