32 Facts About Chokwe Lumumba

Chokwe Lumumba served as a human rights lawyer in Michigan and Mississippi.

Chokwe Lumumba was born in Detroit, Michigan, as Edwin Finley Taliaferro, and was raised there.

Chokwe Lumumba changed his name in 1969 after joining the Republic of New Afrika.

Chokwe Lumumba was born in Detroit, Michigan, as Edwin Finley Taliaferro, the second of eight children of Lucien Taliaferro, from Kansas, and Priscilla, from Alabama.

Chokwe Lumumba's parents had each moved to Detroit in the Great Migration of the early 20th century.

Chokwe Lumumba graduated from St Theresa High School in Detroit, where he served as president of the student council and captain of the football team.

Chokwe Lumumba majored in political science and graduated from Kalamazoo College in 1969, where he formed the Black United Front to advocate for African-American studies in Midwestern higher educational institutions.

Chokwe Lumumba was elected in 1971 to the cabinet of the Republic of New Afrika as the second vice president.

Chokwe Lumumba was in the lead car with Alajo Abegbalola which was halted by the Bolton police on that day when the "Land Celebration" was set to take place, marking the establishment of the capital of the Republic of New Afrika.

Chokwe Lumumba formed a law firm in Detroit in 1978 and successfully defended 16 prisoners who faced murder charges after a riot in a prison in Pontiac, Illinois.

Chokwe Lumumba was initially barred from representing Cynthia Boston, known as Fulani Sunni Ali, a member of a revolutionary group charged in a Brink's robbery case; she was jailed on $500,000 bond.

Many national legal groups protested the barring of Chokwe Lumumba from representing the prisoner and the characterization of him as a terrorist due to his membership in the Republic of New Afrika.

In 1983 while handling the Brink's case, Chokwe Lumumba was held in contempt by the federal judge for his press comments.

Chokwe Lumumba worked on the Geronimo Pratt case and encouraged black youth to eschew gang activities and participate in global actions such as protesting apartheid in South Africa.

Chokwe Lumumba became interested in organizing to demand reparations for the damage done to the generations of African-American slaves, which he believed had contributed to contemporary problems of blacks in the United States.

In September 1987 at Harvard Law School, as a co-founder of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America, Chokwe Lumumba addressed a conference sponsored by the National Conference of Black Lawyers.

Chokwe Lumumba discussed the constitutional neglect of the needs of enslaved persons.

Chokwe Lumumba was a public defender on contract with the City of Jackson's consortium to represent the indigent citizens of the municipality.

In 1994 Chokwe Lumumba sued to have a public defender contract voided.

In 2000 Judge Swan Yerger dismissed a lawsuit which Chokwe Lumumba filed against a police officer.

Chokwe Lumumba lost his license to practice law for six months.

In 2009 Chokwe Lumumba was elected to the Jackson Ward Two council seat with the help of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement, which he had helped found.

Chokwe Lumumba gained support from the Jackson People's Assembly, the Mississippi Disaster Relief Coalition, and other community activists.

Chokwe Lumumba served as chairman of the New African Peoples Organization and co-sponsored the Washington DC rally, Occupy the Justice Department.

Chokwe Lumumba helped the Mississippi Public Broadcasting agency in an anti-dropout campaign for young students.

In 2013, Chokwe Lumumba ran for mayor of Jackson, first running in the primary for the Democratic nomination.

Chokwe Lumumba had led in at least five of the seven wards.

On May 21,2013, Chokwe Lumumba defeated Jonathan Lee by over 3,000 votes and bested his opponent in five out of the seven municipal wards.

The next day, Chokwe Lumumba publicly questioned the significance of Christopher Columbus as "discoverer of America", generating some controversy.

Chokwe Lumumba was sworn in as Mayor on July 1,2013.

Chokwe Lumumba died on February 25,2014, at the age of 66.

City Councilman Quentin Whitwell told reporters that Chokwe Lumumba died of heart failure.