African American Studies - Memo Critique

Presented by: Takia Harris 

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1961:

- Davis enrolled in Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts.

1967:

- Joined Black Panther Party and Student Nonviolent Coordination Committee (SNCC)

- Helped form Sisters Inside and Critical Resistance

- Fired from her job at UCLA for being a member of the Communist Party.

January 26, 1944:

- Angela Yvonne Davis American Civil rights activist and author was born in Birmingham, Alabama.

Angela grew up in a middle‐class neighborhood in Birmingham, AL also know as  “Dynamite Hill” due to the many African American homes in the area that were  bombed by the KKK. Her mother (Sallye) was an elementary school teacher and was  an active member of the NAACP. Davis moved to NYC as a teenager with her mother  who was pursuing her master’s degree at NYU. ‐Her education included: Brandeis University in MA 1961‐1965 Goethe University Frankurt, Germany 1965‐1967 University of California San Diego 1968 Humboldt University of Berlin 1968‐1969 (Ph.D) ‐One of the founders of Critical Resistance, a national grassroots organization  dedicated to building a movement to abolish the prison system. In recent works,  she has argued that the US prison system more closely resembles a new form of  slavery than a criminal justice system.

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1970: - Angela was arrested in New York City in connection with a shootout in the Marin County Courthouse Incident.

1972: - She was acquitted on charges of conspiracy, murder and kidnapping by a jury in San Jose, California.

Angela had a strong interest in supporting the Soledad brothers to include George  Lester Jackson, three inmates who were in prison for the murder of a prison guard.  There was an escape attempt resulting in the murder of a judge, the hostage taker  and several others. Due to her association with the Soledad brother she was brought  up on several charges for her alleged part in the event, including murder. She went  into hiding and was one of the FBI’s “Most Wanted” before being caught two months  later. There were two main pieces of evidence used at trial: the guns used were  registered to her, and she was reportedly in love with Jackson. Her case drew the  attention of the international press and after spending roughly 18 months in jail, she  was acquitted in June 1972.

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1980:

- Professor at San Francisco State University

- Angela was the vice-presidential candidate of the U.S. Communist Party.

1984:

- Second run for vice-president in 1984

1991 :

- Davis became a professor in the field of the history of consciousness at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

After spending time traveling and lecturing, she returned to teaching. She was a  professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she taught courses on the  history of consciousness, retiring in 2008. Davis has continued to lecture at many prestigious universities, discussing issues  regarding race, the criminal justice system and women's rights.

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2009:

- Davis was the keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Commemorative Celebration at LSU.

2003: - Davis gave a lecture at Agnes Scott College, talking about the unfairness of the death penalty, bringing reform in the prisons, issues of minorities in society and the backdrops of the criminal justice system in the US.

Below is a video speech by Angela Davis given at 5th Annual Eric Williams Memorial  Lecture at Florida International University 19 Sept 2003, on slavery and the prison  industrial complex. https://youtu.be/yQ2cC7LHMxA

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Davis has authored eleven books, but a few well known titles are:

• 1981 - Women, Race and Class

• 1989 - Women, Culture & Politics

• 2003 - Are Prisons Obsolete?

• In recent works, she has argued that the prison system in the United States more closely resembles a new form of slavery than a criminal justice system

Angela has written over 10 books with a principal focus of her current activism is the  state of prisons in the United States.

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"I am charged with three capital offenses-murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. My life is at stake in this case-not simply the life of a lone individual, but a life which has been given over to the struggles of my people, a life which belongs to Black people who are tired of poverty, and racism, of the unjust

imprisonment of tens of thousands of our brothers and sisters.“ – Angela Davis

Present Day :

- Davis is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a former director of the university’s Feminist Studies department.

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REFERENCES

• http://blackpower.web.unc.edu/2017/04/angela -yvonne-davis

• Davis, Angela. If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance. New York: The Third Press, 1971.

• Davis, Angela. Are Prisons Obsolete?. New York: Seven Stories Press, 2003.

• https://www.biography.com/activist/angela- davis

• https://www.teenvogue.com/story/what-is- prison-abolition-movement

• https://youtu.be/yQ2cC7LHMxA Slavery and prison industrial complex

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