Chaka Khan, Ex-Black Panther and Award Winning Singer

On 23 March 1953, singer, songwriter and former Black Panther Yvette Marie Stevens, better known as Chaka Khan, was born in Chicago. Her stepmother was a civil rights activist, who encouraged Khan to speak up. By the age of 14 she had joined the revolutionary Black Panther Party. A friend of Chicago Panther leader Fred Hampton, she dropped out of high school, spoke at rallies and worked in the organisation's free breakfast for children program. Khan was later given a gun which she held in her room, but she later told Guardian journalist Alexis Petridis: "every moment I had that gun it changed me. I felt physically sick. I threw it away into Botany’s Pond by Chicago University, then I felt better. That finished me with the Panthers.” Khan went on to considerable success in bands and as a solo artist. We have numerous books available by and about former Panthers here: https://shop.workingclasshistory.com/collections/all/black-panthers.

Chaka Khan born - WCH | Stories

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