Akua Njeri: Last News

Back on December 4, 1969, Akua Njeri was Deborah Johnson, a 19-year old who was more than eight months pregnant with the child of her fiance Fred Hampton, the Chairman of the Chicago Chapter of the Black Panther Party. Through the Shaka King-directed Judas and the Black Messiah, the tragic events of that evening are detailed in a gory scene in which FBI and local law enforcement agents burst through the door where they and 10 others slept.

From The Deuce to Random Acts of Flyness to The Hate U Give to Project Power, Dominique Fishback has built an acting career that has a strong foundation of perspective and point of view. With her most recent role in Judas and the Black Messiah, Fishback takes her career to a new level.

In director Shaka King's Judas and the Black Messiah, Dominique Fishback plays Deborah Johnson, the fiancee of Illinois Black Panther Party chairman Fred Hampton (Daniel Kaluuya) and mother to his son, who was born just weeks after the activist was assassinated in Chicago in 1969 at age 21. The 29-year-old actress, writer and poet, who first earned attention for supporting roles in two David Simon projects, HBO's Show Me a Hero (about the fight over desegregating housing in Yonkers, New York) and The Deuce, tells THR about meeting the real Johnson (now known as Akua Njeri), having the opportunity to craft her own poetry for the film and how Hampton's story is ultimately a love story.

Judas and the Black Messiah, which was released in theaters and on HBO Max this past Friday does that. “One of the things we wanted to kinda showcase with this film was that the Black Panthers were motivated by a love of their people and that there was a lot of love,” Director and co-writer Shaka King Tells ESSENCE.