Growing up in a segregated Birmingham, in a part of town referred to as “Dynamite Hill” in reference to the numerous attacks committed by the Klu Klux Klan, much of Davis’s childhood was plagued by the horrors of racism and bigotry. Her activism started at a young age.
Angela Davis
February 9, 2021
Born in Alabama in 1944, Dr. Angela Davis is one of the most influential Black activists and communists alive, known for her leadership during the Civil Rights movement of the 60s, her her efforts for the Black Panther Party and Che-Lumumba Club, and her numerous award-winning books on race, class, and gender theory, among other topics. A prominent activist, communist, educator, and author, Davis’s impact on activism and American history is undeniable.
Growing up in a segregated Birmingham, in a part of town referred to as “Dynamite Hill” in reference to the numerous attacks committed by the Klu Klux Klan, much of Davis’s childhood was plagued by the horrors of racism and bigotry. Her activism started at a young age, when she created inter-racial study groups as a highschooler. The group meetings were repeatedly broken up by local police, however, she kept pushing.
After high school, Davis went to study at Brandeis University in Massachusetts, choosing to study philosophy. Afterward, she moved to California for graduate school, which is when she joined numerous activist groups, including the Black Panthers.
In the 60s and 70s, Davis became a prominent voice in the Black Panther Party and created the Che-Lumumba Club, an all-Black chapter of the communist party. Davis was a strong supporter of prison abolishment and often spoke on the racist infrastructure of the American Prison System. Most of her time however was spent on building support for the Che-Lumumba club.
In 1970, Davis was implicated in the Soledad Brothers case, a botched attempted escape of three Black inmates at Soledad prison. John W. Cluchette, Fleeta Drumgo, and George Lester Jackson were accused of killing a prison guard, however, there was much controversy around the circumstances of the case. In August of 1970, Jackson’s brother made an attempt to help the three inmates escape but failed. Four people were killed, including George Lester Jackson.
Davis, a friend of Jackson’s, had the guns used in the shooting registered in her name and faced several charges of affiliation with the escape. After a lengthy trial, Davis was finally acquitted and found innocent of all of the charges.
Davis continued her activism work in the 80s as a college professor, however, was often denied positions due to her alignment and belief in communism. In 1980 she appeared on the US presidential ballot as the Communist party’s pick for Vice President but ultimately did not win.
Today Davis is an established activist and educator and has published several books, including Women, Race, and Class, Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith and Billie Holiday, Are Prisons Obsolete?, Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture, The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues and Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.