Born January 26, 1944 to two teachers in Birmingham, Alabama. This was the beginning of the civil rights movement and there was still a great deal of racism as you may recall from the prevalence of lynching still practiced mainly in the south.
Her parents were known to associate with communists and she first joined with these views as a child in a communist youth group.
Education:
Traveled and studied abroad in Europe, including Germany and Paris. Studied under several prominent Marxist and communist scholars. She has a B.A., and M.A.
Background of Politics:
After finishing her masters in California, Davis began teaching philosophy at the U of C at LA. She was being monitored for her association with the communist party and her association with the Black Panthers. Her involvement in these groups cost her job at the university and many claim that this when she began to be framed for her later indictments.
In 1970 this all came to a catalyst when a shoot out and attempted escape of the Soledad Brothers and George Jackson from the Marin County Courthouse before their trials. Davis was linked to crime scene; it was said she supplied the guns and helped develop the plan. Davis fled California as a two-week manhunt for her arose. Then California Governor Regan vowed that Davis would never again work for the state of California, which she now does at U of C at Santa Cruz. President Nixon publicly indicted her when he acclaimed the good work of the FBI men who caught her.
Davis was imprisoned for over a year for her supposed involvement in the incident at the Marin County courthouse. George Jackson was killed in a inmate riot, supposedly by other inmates, although Davis and others dispute. She was cleared by an all white jury. There was a campaign around the world to free Angela, and she became a symbol of all political prisoners.
This period of imprisonment and unjustness lead Angela to be an even stronger champion for the rights of prisoners. She expressed in an interview that she did not feel guilt for being one of the thousands of political prisoners to be freed, but that she must work her hardest to help them now from her position.
In 1980 she ran for VP under the communist party ticket.
She wrote Angela Davis: An Autobiography, as an account of her life in the 60’s and 70’s.
In 1980 she wrote Women, Race, and Class which is one of the most important feminist classics because it deals with multiple levels of issues.
Today:
Angela is a great activist on many issues. She is a proponent of women’s issues, minority issues, prisoner’s rights, and political issues. She was a major activist against the Persian Gulf War. She travels around the country giving speeches about these issues.
Davis was denied the seat of President of U of C at Santa Cruz in 1994 due to her political beliefs and history.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
Works by the Author
Imagining Medea: Rhodessa Jones and Theater for Incarcerated Women (2001)
Global Critical Race Feminism: An International Reader (1999)
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1998)
The Angela Y. Davis Reader (1998)
The House That Race Built (1998)
Resisting State Violence: Radicalism, Gender, and Race in U.S. Culture (1996)
Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism (1992)
Women, Culture, and Politics (1989)
Women, Race, and Class (1981)
If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance (1971)
Works about the Author
Abbot, Diane. "Revolution by Other Means." New Statesman 114 (1987): 16-17.
Bethell, Tom. "Stanford, Angela, and me." The American Spectator 24 (1991): 9-11.
Bhavani, Kum Kum. "Complexity, Activism, Optimism: An interview with Angela Y. Davis." Feminist Review 31 (1989): 66-81.
Bray, Rosemary L. "Three Women of the
Movement." The New York Times Magazine 31 Jan. 1993, 22-3.
Buckley, William F. "The Indian at Dartmouth." National Review 40 (1988): 61.
Cole, Harriette. "Angela Davis: A Good-Health Advocate." Essence 18 (1988) 67-9.
Davis, Fania. "The Black Family and the Crisis of Capitalism." The Black Scholar 17 (1986): 33-40.
Davis, Francis. "Blues Legacies and Black Feminisms: A Book Review." The New York Times Book Review 103 (1998): 16.
Giddings, Paula. "Word Star." Essence 20 (1989): 24.
Gonsalves, Sandra Virginia. "Women, Race, and Class: A Book Review." The Journal of Negro History 68 (1983): 109-10.
Gordon, Avery F. "Globalism and the Prison Industrial Complex: An Interview With Angela Davis." Race and Class 40 (1998): 145-57.
Greene, Cheryll Y. "Angela Davis: Talking Tough." Essence 17 (1986): 62-4.
---, and Marie D. Brown. "Woman Talk." Essence 21 (1990): 92-94.
Lowe, Lisa. The Politics of Culture in the Shadow of Capital. Durham: Duke University Press, 1997.
Maille, Chantal. "Femmes, Race, et Classe (Book Review)." Canadian Journal of Political Science 18 (1985): 662-3.
Margoshes, Pamela. "Thank you, Angela." Essence 26 (1995): 50.
Snell, Marilyn Berlin. "Child Care or Workfare?" New Perspectives Quarterly 7 (1990): 19-22.
Stevens, Jackie. "Women, Culture, and Politics: A Book Review." The Nation 248 (1989): 279-81.
Weathers, Diane, and Tara Roberts. "Rekindling the Flame." Essence 27 (1996): 82-4.
West, Audrey. "Women, Race, and Class: A Book Review." World Marxist Review 27 (1984): 69-73.
William, Toks. "Women, Culture, and Politics: A Book Review." New Statesman and Society 3 (1990): 39.