Angela Davis is an activist, writer, speaker, and educator who fights for the oppressed. Davis has made it her duty in life to fight for civil rights, gender equality, and prison reform.
She is the author of many books and has lectured all over the world, including Europe, Africa, and Australia.
Davis is most known for her association with The Black Panthers and Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization dedicated to building a movement to abolish the prison system.
Angela Davis was born on January 26, 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama.
Growing up in a neighborhood nicknamed "Dynamite Hill," due to many African American homes being bombed by the Ku Klux Klan in the area, sparked Davis' fight for equal rights.
Birmingham was a key city in the Civil Rights Movement and as a teenager, Davis organized many interracial study groups, which were broken up by police.
Davis even knew some of the four girls that were killed in the 1963 Birmingham church bombing.
Davis was a true scholar with years of schooling. She studied two years at the Sorbonne, University of Paris and studied philosophy in Germany for two years. Davis earned her doctorate degree in philosophy from Humboldt University in East Berlin.
Davis was associated with The Black Panthers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee.
She spent most of her time working with the Che-Lumumba Club, which was an all black Communist Party. Through the group she began to organize public protests.
In 1969, she was hired as a professor by the University of California, but was fired due to being involved in the Communist Party.
Davis was highly recognized for her support of three inmates in Soledad Prison, known as the Soledad brothers. The three men were accused of killing a prison guard after many African American inmates were killed in a fight by another guard.
During George Lester Jackson's trial, one of the Soledad Brothers, an escape attempt was made and several people in the courtroom were killed.
Davis was brought up on several charges due to this alleged event.
Davis was allegedly in love with Jackson and the guns used in courtroom were registered in her name, according to reports in Biography.
During that time she was seen on the FBI's Most Wanted List, due to her fleeing. She evaded police for two months until she was found. Davis was acquitted on all charges in June 1972.
Today, Angela Davis continues to educate others regarding race, the criminal justice system, and women's rights through lectures at many universities.
Davis has also written many books including her latest, "The Meaning of Freedom."
Angela Davis is a member of the executive board of the Women of Color Resource Center, an organization that emphasizes education about women living in poverty. Davis continues to fight for prison reforms as a member of Justice Now, which provides legal assistance to women in prison.
