John Africa (26 July 1931-13 May 1985), born Vincent Leaphart, was the founder of the Philadelphia-based black nationalist and anarchist group MOVE. He and his followers were killed when the Philadelphia Police Department bombed their compound in 1985.
Biography[]
Vincent Leaphart was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania in 1931, and he was raised in the Mantua neighborhood of West Philadelphia. He dropped out of school at the age of 16 due to being a slow learner, and he was drafted into the US Army during the Korean War. Upon returning, he started a family and moved to the Powelton neighborhood in 1971. In 1972, he changed his name to "John Africa" and founded MOVE, a black nationalist and green-anarchist commune, that same year. MOVE protested animal cruelty in zoos, the education system, and police brutality, leading to the PPD surveilling MOVE. In 1978, the PPD's attempt to force MOVE to relocate from their home on Pearl Street led to the death of a PPD officer in a shootout with MOVE, leading to the "MOVE 9" being convicted over the officer's death and the house demolished. Africa and MOVE relocated to Osage Avenue after the first standoff, but the PPD, due to obscenity complaints and arrest warrants against MOVE, decided to crack down on MOVE in a 500-man police operation on 13 May 1985. Non-compliance by MOVE led to a shootout, and the PPD dropped a satchel bomb on the MOVE compound from a helicopter without warning, detonating it and destroying 65 homes in the neighborhood in a raging fire. Eleven MOVE members, including Africa, five other adults, and five children, died in the fire while huddled in the basement.