Black August is a time to embrace the principles of unity, self-sacrifice, political education, physical training and resistance. The Black August Hip-Hop Projectwas once known for facilitating cultural exchange between Cuban and American youth in the form of political education workshops and concerts. The Black August Collective that was formed, and the concerts these progressive US artists gave in Cuba, played a key role in expanding and raising the profile of conscious, politicized rap within Cuba. Black August originated during the 1970’s in the California penal system. Nehanda Abiodun, a black nationalist and anti-drug activist who was charged in connection to a deadly 1981 armored-truck robbery, then fled to Cuba … The movement then became a … The Black August Collective that was formed, and the concerts these progressive US artists gave in Cuba, played a key role in expanding and raising the profile of conscious, politicized rap within Cuba. Proceeds from the Black August Benefit aid the Black August Political Prisoner Emergency Fund and support numerous Cuban charities, including a public hip hop library and studio in Havana, Cuba. Since then, Mos Def, dead prez, Black Star, Common and other U.S. rappers have brought their politicized messages to Cuba and since 1998, the New York-based oganization Black August has held fundraising concerts in the United States to support the Havana rap festivals and establish a … In the late 1970s the observance and practice of Black August left the prisons of California and began being practiced by Black/New … Many Cuban rappers felt an affinity to the revolutionary aspects of the work these artists created. This year is of particular significance because this is the 400th year anniversary since the arrival of the first captive, enslaved, African laborers to the English colony of Jamestown,… The Black August Hip-Hop Project was once known for facilitating cultural exchange between Cuban and American youth in the form of political education workshops and concerts. This discussion is mainly between Esther Armah of WBAI's Wake Up Call and Monifa Bandele of the Malcolm X Grassroots Movement and the Black August HipHop Festival that hooks International HipHop artists up every August in Cuba. Black August has spread to other parts of the country and the world, with initiatives from Cuba by the comrades in exile Nehanda Abiodun and Assata Shakur, who escaped from a dungeon in the state of New Jersey with the help of her comrade guerrillas in the BLA on November 2, 1979. Category News & Politics Since August of 1998, Black August has had benefit concerts in (1998) New York City at Tramp's, (1999) the Bowery Ballroom, (2000) the New Age Cabaret, (2001 and 2002) Synod Hall, and three shows at Cuba's National Rap Festival and five shows in South Africa, including a show at the United Nations World Conference on Racism in Durban. The term Black August derives from an observance by prisoners after the death of George Jackson in 1971 at San Quentin by Prison Guards.