ABOUT GERALDINE POINTER | Martin Sostre

On the night of July 14, 1967, Geraldine Pointer (then Robinson) was helping Martin Sostre close the Afro-Asian Bookshop on Jefferson Avenue. The two met and started dating the previous year, soon after he opened the city’s first Black revolutionary bookstore. Sostre eventually opened two more stores, including the East-West Bookshop which Pointer managed. In the early morning of July 15th, plainclothes police and FBI agents raided the store on Jefferson and arrested the two, scapegoating Sostre as the cause of the city’s recent uprising.  

Geraldine Robinson became one of the first Black women political prisoners of the Black Power era, yet her struggle remains virtually unknown today. Any dedication to the excavation and dissemination of Martin Sostre’s legacy must also acknowledge the importance of Geraldine’s struggle and the enduring impact of state repression on her and her family.
— Read on www.martinsostre.com/geraldine-robinson-pointer