5 Civil Rights Activists Who Are Imprisoned

Some activists are regarded as political prisoners.

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Activists Who Are Imprisoned - The fight for civil rights in the U.S. is often remembered by keystone events like Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington address. But groups like the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army also simultaneously fought for fairness and justice. Several of those activists are serving life sentences for taking the lives of innocents during their quest for equality. Here’s a look at the African-Americans who are living out their lives away from the society they fought to help establish. – LaToya Bowlah (Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images)

Photo By Photo: Michael Ochs Archives/Getty Images

Russell Maroon Shoatz, 69 - Russell Maroon Shoatz was a community activist who founded the Black Unity Council and served in the Black Liberation Army prior to his 1971 conviction for murdering a Pennsylvania police officer. On May 8, 2013, the self-designated "New African Political Prisoner” Shoatz filed a lawsuit demanding an end to his solitary confinement. (Photo: Pennsylvania Police Department)

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Russell Maroon Shoatz, 69 - Russell Maroon Shoatz was a community activist who founded the Black Unity Council and served in the Black Liberation Army prior to his 1971 conviction for murdering a Pennsylvania police officer. On May 8, 2013, the self-designated "New African Political Prisoner” Shoatz filed a lawsuit demanding an end to his solitary confinement. (Photo: Pennsylvania Police Department)

Ed Pointdexter, 70 - Ed Poindexter was one of the leading members of Omaha, Nebraska’s Black Panther chapter. The chapter worked  to desegregate Omaha’s Peony Park Swimming Pool and tackled domestic issues such as welfare rights, police brutality, absentee landlords and Omaha’s school system. Poindexter and Mondo we Langa were sentenced to life in prison in 1971 on convictions for a bombing that resulted in the death of an Omaha police officer. (Photo: David Fenton/Getty Images)

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Ed Pointdexter, 70 - Ed Poindexter was one of the leading members of Omaha, Nebraska’s Black Panther chapter. The chapter worked  to desegregate Omaha’s Peony Park Swimming Pool and tackled domestic issues such as welfare rights, police brutality, absentee landlords and Omaha’s school system. Poindexter and Mondo we Langa were sentenced to life in prison in 1971 on convictions for a bombing that resulted in the death of an Omaha police officer. (Photo: David Fenton/Getty Images)

The Black Panther Party - Originally named The Black Panther Party for Self-Defense, the movement was founded in 1966 by Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale. The organization's purpose was initially to monitor predominantly African-American neighborhoods and protect residents from police brutality. (Photo: Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

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Mondo we Langa, 64 - Mondo we Langa (formerly known as David Rice) is regarded as a political prisoner in Nebraska State Penitentiary since 1971 for a bombing which resulted in the murder of an Omaha policeman. Prior to his life sentence, Langa worked in the Black Panther’s breakfast-for-children program and participated in community groups such as the Ad Hoc Education Planning Committee, which addressed racism in the Omaha public school system.  While imprisoned, he contributes stories and poems to various literary journals. (Photo: Photo12/UIG/Getty Images)

Free at Last - Herman Wallace, 71, was freed from prison after spending 41 years in solitary confinement on Tuesday night. Wallace was taken immediately to the hospital in New Orleans, his hometown, to be treated for liver cancer. He only has days or weeks to live. Wallace was serving a sentence for armed robbery in Louisiana State Penitentiary in Angola. (Photo: MSNBC)

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Herman Wallace, 71 - Imprisoned since 1971 in Angola, Louisiana, for an armed robbery, Herman Wallace organized the Black Panther chapter called Angola 3. The group advocated desegregation within the prison, helped prisoners file legal papers and led organized strikes for better conditions until he was convicted of killing a prison guard in 1972. But with one of the witnesses being legally blind and no physical evidence linking the accused Wallace and another Angola 3 member, Albert Woodfox, to the crime, the two continue to fight their convictions. In 2009, Wallace was moved to Hunt Correctional Centre in Louisiana. (Photo: MSNBC)

Sundiata Alcoli, 74 - Sundiata Alcoli worked to increase voter registration in Mississippi before joining the Harlem Black Panther Party in 1968. As a Black Panther, he focused on improving schools, housing, jobs, child care, ending drug abuse and police brutality. He is currently the longest held prisoner in New Jersey’s history for the 1973 murder of a N.J. state trooper. Acoli mentors prisoners to combat the cycle of recidivism. In September 1979, the International Jurist, a group of judges and lawyers across the world who promote and protect human rights, interviewed Alcoli and declared him a political prisoner. (Photo: Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign)

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Sundiata Alcoli, 74 - Sundiata Alcoli worked to increase voter registration in Mississippi before joining the Harlem Black Panther Party in 1968. As a Black Panther, he focused on improving schools, housing, jobs, child care, ending drug abuse and police brutality. He is currently the longest held prisoner in New Jersey’s history for the 1973 murder of a N.J. state trooper. Acoli mentors prisoners to combat the cycle of recidivism. In September 1979, the International Jurist, a group of judges and lawyers across the world who promote and protect human rights, interviewed Alcoli and declared him a political prisoner. (Photo: Sundiata Acoli Freedom Campaign)