Jamal Joseph

Jamal Joseph (formerly Eddie Joseph) is an American writer, director, producer, poet, activist, and educator. Joseph was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He was prosecuted as one of the Panther 21. He spent six years incarcerated at Leavenworth Penitentiary. Joseph served 5½ years in Leavenworth, where he earned two college degrees and wrote his first play. To date, he has written five plays and two volumes of poetry. He earned his BA summa cum laude from the University of Kansas while at Leavenworth. His first position after incarceration was at Touro College, in East Harlem. While there he was instrumental in arranging for historic graduation ceremonies at the Apollo Theatre. with a graduation address by Ossie Davis, preceded by a spectacular Graduation Procession down the middle of 125th Street He is a full professor and former chair of Columbia University’s Graduate Film Division and the artistic director of the New Heritage Theatre Group in Harlem. He has been featured on HBO's Def Poetry Jam, BET's American Gangster and on Tupac Shakur's The Rose That Grew from Concrete Volumes 1 and 2. He is the author of the interactive biography on Tupac Shakur, Tupac Shakur Legacy. Joseph was nominated for a 2008 Academy Award in the Best Song category for his contributions to the song "Raise It Up", performed by IMPACT Repertory Theatre and Jamia Nash in the 2007 film August Rush. His memoir Panther Baby was published in February 2012 by Algonquin Books.