Black August (commemoration)

Black August is an annual commemoration and prison-based holiday to remember Black political prisoners, Black freedom struggles in the United States and beyond, and to highlight Black resistance against racial, colonial and imperialist oppression. It takes place during the entire calendar month of August.

Black August was initiated by the Black Guerilla Family in San Quentin State Prison in 1979 when a group of incarcerated people came together to commemorate the deaths of brothers Jonathan P. Jackson (d. August 7, 1970) and George Jackson (d. August 21, 1971) at San Quentin State Prison.

Impact in culture and the arts
Black August as a cultural movement has had a significant impact in the arts. The 2008 film Black August (film) focuses on the experiences of prison activist George Jackson''. A book named Black August: 1619 – 2019'' by Gloria Verdieu released in 2019. The Black Collective launched the Black August Mixtape in 2019. In visual art, the virtual exhibition "Black August" opened at the Crenshaw Dairy Mart in 2020.

Dates celebrated or commemorated during Black August

 * August 1: Emancipation Day in Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla, The Bahamas, Barbados, Belize, Bermuda, British Virgin Islands, Dominica, Grenada, Guyana, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Canada
 * August 7: death of Jonathan P. Jackson (d. August 7, 1970) at San Quentin State Prison
 * August 11: Watts riots also known as the Watts Uprising, August 11-16 1965
 * August 14: Bois Caiman: Vodou ceremony that would lead to the first large scale uprising of the enslaved of Saint Domingue and spark the Haitian Revolution
 * August 17: birth of pan-africanist leader Marcus Garvey (n. August 17, 1887 - d. June 10, 1940)
 * August 21: beginning of Nat Turner's Rebellon (August 21-23, 1831)
 * August 21: death of George Jackson (d. August 21, 1971) at San Quentin State Prison
 * August 23: Uprising of the enslaved in Saint Domingue, beginning of the Haitian Revolution and commemorated by UNESCO as the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition
 * August 30: birth of Fred Hampton, who was deputy chairman of the Black Panther Party at the time of his assassination by the US Federal Bureau of Investigation.