Sister Souljah was born in 1964 in New York City. A graduate of Rutgers University, she attended Cornell University's advanced placement summer program and Spain's University of Salamanca study-abroad program. Sister Souljah is best known for her work as a political activist and educator of underclass urban youth. In the mid-1980s, she founded, in cooperation with the United Church of Christ, the African Youth Survival Camp, located in Enfield, North Carolina for children of homeless families. In 1992, her rap album, 360 Degrees Power, and video, Slavery's Back in Effect, catapulted her to national attention. Her first book, No Disrespect, was published in 1994.