Black-History-Month

Angela Davis (1944-)

Angela Davis speaking at the Change the Status Quo Social Justice Leadership Conference at Cal Poly on 29 February 2020

Angela Davis is one of the iconic figures of the Civil Rights Movement of the ’60s & ’70s. She was active in the Black Panther Party and twice ran for Vice President as a member of the Communist Party. After Jonathan Jackson’s attempt to free his brother George Jackson and the other Soledad Brothers by taking hostages at the Marin County Civic Center using weapons tied to Davis, she was charged with aggravated kidnapping and murder. Doubting her safety in police custody Davis went on the run and become the third woman ever to be placed on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. She was captured in New York and returned to California where she was tried and acquitted of all charges by an all-white jury.

Her lifelong commitment to social change in the United States and the world has made her one of the touchstones of the left and a lighting rod for the right. Born in Birmingham, Alabama, she lived in “Dynamite Hill” and came of age during a period of immense optimism, change, and repression. Describing her childhood, Davis says: “My very first memories are the sounds of dynamite, and then also, the fear of watching my father bring his gun out when we thought that the Ku Klux Klan might be assaulting our home.” Davis went on to earn degrees from Brandeis University, the University of Frankfurt, and UCSD. Her advisor for her PhD was Herbert Marcuse. By 26 she was an assistant professor at UCLA. After her acquittal she taught at San Francisco State University and UC Santa Cruz.

More on Angela Davis’ Life & Thought