What Is the George Jackson Brigade?

             The George Jackson Brigade formed in the crucible of prisoners’ rights organizing which came out of the civil rights movement and mass anti-war protests of the ‘60s. In its three-year existence, it claimed 11 bombings, as many bank robberies, and one prisoner liberation. Targets included the Department of Corrections, the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Indian Affairs, as well as different corporate offices. The chemistry present in the group was the same that had been combusting across the country: society’s most oppressed members allied with college educated youth who refused to continue their class and white skin privilege. In the case of the Brigade, women took center stage, queers challenged straights, convicts communicated with college students, and a black man enthusiastically aided whites.

            The story of the Brigade takes place against a backdrop of the domestic activism of Black, Chicano, Native American, gay and white prisoners, and armed struggle in the U.S., Canada, Central and South America, Africa, Asia and Europe. Also documented is the FBI’s infiltration of women’s land and the lesbian community (in pursuit of Katherine Powers and Susan Saxe) and political abuse of the grand jury process.