Jamal Joseph is an American writer, director, producer, poet, activist, and educator. Joseph was a member of the Black Panther Party and the Black Liberation Army. He was prosecuted as one of the Panther 21. He spent six years incarcerated at Leavenworth Penitentiary. In 1997, he became the executive artistic director of the New Heritage Theatre Group in Harlem and co-founded the IMPACT Repertory Theatre.