Jamal Joseph Black Panther, Poet, Prisoner & Oscare Nominee

Eddie Joseph was an intelligent honors student well on his way to starting college early. But growing up in the Bronx's black ghetto in the '60s meant that in lieu of finding early college acceptance, Eddie instead found a warm welcome as one of the youngest members of the Black Panther Party. Incarcerated on Rikers Island by 16-years-old and charged as one of the Panther 21, Eddie was at the heart of one of the most important criminal cases of his time. Once exonerated, he began calling himself Jamal and took up the mantle as one of the youngest leaders of the Panther's New York Chapter.