There were and are many aspects of Angela davis that qualify her to be a reapresentative American. Not only did she fight for what she believed in, but she taught it to others as well. She tried to spread her ideas to the rest of Americans and touched many peoples lives with her firm beliefs and strong views. She was solid in her decisions and wasn't the type who would give up or back down. This stubborness is probably one of the leading things that made her find herself being one of the FBI's Americas 10 Most Wanted for providing four improsioned black men with ammunition to aid in their escape. In this attempt four men were killed, including a white judge.
Angela Davis, born on January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama, was a radical black activist. She joined the communist party in 1968 and then suffered from dicrimination because of her beliefs and revolutionary ideas. On August 7. 1970, during an attempted escape from Marin County's Hall of Justice, the judge and 3 black prisioners were killed. Although Angela Davis was not there at the scene of the crime, she was convicted when police claimed that the guns used by the prisoners trying to escape were registered under her name. When Davis fled underground, she was added to FBI's 10 Most Wanted list. This led to one of the most intensive man hunts in recent American history. She was later captured in New York Cuty in August of 1970. California Governor Ronald Reagan publicly vowed that Davis would never again be allowed to teach in the state of California, though today she is teaching once again, at the University of California at Santa Cruz. Eighteen months after she was captured, she was freed anbd cleared of all charges in 1972 by an all white jury. During this period of time in which she had been captured and then let free, an international free Angela Davis movement has started and using this momentum, Davis founded the Bational Allianca Against Racisy and Political Repression. This group is still very active even today. As well as being very active in her political view point and views of ending racism sge was also a supporter of women's rights. She wrote many books, including If They Came In The Morning (1971), Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974), Women, Race & Class (1981), Women, Race & Politics (1989), Blues Legacies & Black Feminism (1999) and The Angela Y, Davis Reader (1999). Angela DAvis is till alive and active even today.
This strong woman with views on racism, sexism and politics, was sure abuot everythign she did. In a time when blacks and women were supposed to remain silent and not share their views, Davis' were right out there with every one of the white men's views. One thing about this woman's story that I found particularly interesting was that she was cleared of all charges involving the escpace from the Marin County jail by an all white jury. I think that this was extremely respectable because it means that these white people must have had enough trust in her or believed her enough to ger out of her convictioneven though she was a black in a time when being black was still discriminated against. Her books were accpeted as good literature aa well. Not only did she escape charges after being convicted for providing guns to the prisoners, but even after Governor Ronald Reagan said tht Davis would never be allowed to teach in the state pf California again, she was soon back teaching in San Francisco. She had a huge impact on both the black and white communities concerning how she dealt with racism, her views on women's rights and her truly revolutionary political views.
There were so many things about this spectacular women, how she conquered the people who discriminated against her for her color and for her views, how she was "heard" above people who were supposedly "better" than she and she had even been on America's Most Wanted. Other than that, to have been on the FBI's 10 most wanted and then be able to go back and fix everything, rebuild your reputation and keep your life going as it had before, takes tremendous courage and tons of woprk, therefore Ms. Angela Davis is a perfect representative American.
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