Celebrate Black History: Angela Davis

Davis, Angela Yvonne, 1944–, African-American political activist, b. Birmingham, Ala. She taught philosophy (1969–70) at the Univ. of California, Los Angeles, until she was finally denied reappointment because of her membership in the Communist party and her advocacy of radical black causes. In Aug., 1970, she went into hiding after a gun legally registered to her was used in an attempted courtroom escape in which a judge and three others were killed. Apprehended two months later, she was tried on charges of conspiracy, murder, and kidnapping (1972). After months in prison, she was released on bail and later acquitted. She has since taught at San Francisco State Univ. (1979–91) and the Univ. of California at Santa Cruz (1992–). Davis was the American Communist party's vice-presidential candidate in 1980 and 1984.

See her Women, Race, and Class (1982), autobiography (1988), and Women, Culture, and Politics (1989).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia, 6th ed. Copyright © 2005, Columbia University Press. All rights reserved.