Biography
Janine Phillips Africa is similarly known as a MOVE member from the group’s high-conflict Philadelphia period in the 1970s and as one of the MOVE 9. Reporting on MOVE consistently situates her activism within the organization’s communal “back-to-nature” ideology and its direct, often confrontational stance toward city institutions—conflict that helped turn the imprisonment of the MOVE 9 into a long-running political cause for supporters.
Phillips Africa was arrested during the Aug. 8, 1978 siege/eviction confrontation at MOVE’s home and, with the other MOVE 9, was convicted of third-degree murder in Officer Ramp’s death and sentenced to decades in prison. She was granted parole and released on May 25, 2019 (the same day as Janet Holloway Africa), after spending more than 40 years incarcerated.
