(January 26, 1944- )

Angela Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama at a time of great political unrest and racism in the United States. She is known internationally for her ongoing work to fight all forms of oppression in the US and other countries. Angela was a very good student and well educated, so she took the chance to go to California and teach at the Philosophy Department at UCLA. From then on, her life changed, and is changed in a good way, forever. Ms. Davis helped highlight the spirit of the 1970s by fighting for what she believed in, and not giving in to segregation, oppression, and racism.

It began at the University of CA at San Diego, that Davis began closely studying the Communist Party. So, it was no surprise when she became a member of the Communist Party as well as a member of the Black Panthers in 1968. It was her involvement in these radical groups that caused her to be closely watched by the US government. It was also these radical groups that resulted in her being dismissed from her one year job teaching at UCLA. In 1970 she became the 3rd woman in history to appear on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list on false charges. This was so, because she purchased guns under her name to help the Soledad Brothers, and those guns were used in a shootout of which 3 were killed.

After the warrant was issued for her arrest, Davis spent two weeks running from the police, but she was eventually found in a motel in NY. While she was evading the police, signs of 'Angela, sister, you are welcome in this house' were posted all over homes in the US. During her 16 month incarceration, a huge 'Free Angela Davis' campaign was organized, leading to her acquittal in 1972.

Angela Davis was a huge political activist, and after she got out of jail she taught Black philosophy and women's studies at SF State College. In 1980, she ran for the Vice President of the Communist Party. And by 1983, she was working on National Alliance against Racist and Political Repression; and she had been awarded an honorary doctorate from Lenin University. Also, after her release from prison, her essays were published in a collection called If they come in the Morning: Voices Resistance. Her friends convinced her to publish an account of her life in the 60s and 70s, which resulted in Angela Davis: An Autobiography. Her next book was published in 1981, called Women, Race and Class. And then in 1989, Davis published the first collection of her speeches, entitled Women, Culture, and Politics. Today, she is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of CA, Santa Cruz where she spends much of her time delivering speeches to eager audiences around the country.

Pictures:

Bibliography:

~http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/tranter/pix/angela-davis-1974.jpg

~http://voices.cla.umn.edu/images/davisa_a.jpg

~http://setis.library.usyd.edu.au/tranter/pix/angela-davis-1974.jpg

~www.utah.edu/unews/releases/ 01/feb/davisbio.html

~http://womenshistory.about.com/library/bio/blbio_angela_davis.htm

~http://www.speakersandartists.org/People/AngelaDavis.html