Eddie Goodman Africa

Eddie Goodman Africa is a member of the MOVE organization arrested with eight other MOVE members in the August 8, 1978 Philadelphia police raid on the MOVE compound at 33rd and Powelton. He was convicted along with the rest of the MOVE 9 of third-degree murder of Officer James J. Ramp. He was paroled on June 21, 2019 after nearly 41 years in Pennsylvania state prison.

Edward “Eddie” Goodman Africa is best known as one of the “MOVE 9”—members of MOVE, a Philadelphia-based communal movement whose public profile blended Black liberation politics with a “back-to-nature”/early environmental ethos (including animal-rights themes) and frequent, highly visible confrontation with city authorities. The organization’s founder, John Africa, promoted a worldview that members treated as a unifying doctrine; adopting the surname “Africa” signaled belonging to a shared “family” identity rather than a conventional surname change.

Goodman Africa’s arrest is tied to the major 1978 clash between MOVE and police: on Aug. 8, 1978, after a prolonged siege and eviction attempt at MOVE’s home in Powelton Village, a gunfight left James J. Ramp dead and multiple officers injured; nine MOVE members were arrested and later convicted of third-degree murder, receiving extremely long prison sentences often summarized as “30 years to life” (or 30–100 years). After decades in custody and repeated parole denials, Goodman Africa was granted parole and released in June 2019 from prison in Pennsylvania.

Edward Goodman Africa is a member of MOVE, the Philadelphia-based Black liberation and back-to-nature group founded by John Africa, and one of the "MOVE 9." Following the August 8, 1978 armed police confrontation at MOVE's Powelton Village house — in which Officer James Ramp was killed — the nine surviving adult members were convicted of third-degree murder in 1980 and each sentenced to 30 to 100 years. After about four decades inside, consistently maintaining innocence, the MOVE 9 members were granted parole between 2018 and 2020.