Celebrating Angela Davis on her 77th Birthday

Today, the 26th of January 2021, is the 77th birthday of a woman who inspires me and millions alike all around the World. Her name is Angela Davis.

Angela Davis was born on the 26th of January 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama to an African - American family. Her home was within a neighborhood nicknamed 'dynamite hill' after several houses were bombed in an attempt to drive out African-American families of middle class backgrounds out by the KKK. As a teen, Angela (like most African-American teens) was exposed to life as a black person in the USA. She attended Carrie A. Tuggie School, which was segregated at the time and later moved up to Park Annex. Her mother, Sallye Bell Davis, was very much involved in communism and similar sorts working as a national officer and an organiser of the Southern Negro Youth Congress (which was influenced by the communist party and resolved to help black youth in the south form alliances). As a result, Angela practically grew up around 'radical' thinkers, communists, and similar who were a massive help to her developing intellectually. As well as this, Davis was also a regular church-goer and attended Sunday school a lot. She was also a member of the Girl Scouts of the United States of America, to whom she attributes her political involvement to. In 1959,at the age of 15, she marched against racial segregation in Birmingham, as part of a girl scouts event. In her final years of school, Davis entered a Quaker programme that allowed for her to go to integrated schools in the North. She was also left grieving when the Birmingham Church Bombing took place in 1963. This horrific racially motivated attack left 4 young girls dead. Angela tells us that, one of these girls was her neighbour, another was the sister of one of her close friends and another was a student of her mother. This attack was so near her that she recalls her house shaking and her dad preparing to be armed in case they were attacked too. Upon moving onto college, Davis was associated with many pro-black groups such as the Black Panthers.

Angela Davis was a strong supporter of the Soledad brothers who, on in January 1970, supposedly murdered a white police officer during a riot at Soleded prison after another guard killed multiple African-American prisoners. One of these men was George Lester Jackson. George's trial was on the 7th of August 1970 and on this day, his brother -Jonathan Jackson (who was only 17), took over the courtroom and took the Judge, as well as three female jurors, as hostages. Jonathan also armed the black defendants and attempted to transport the hostages away from the room. One of the defendants shot at police and the police fired back. Between the two sides, the judge and three men were killed, others were injured. It turned out, that Davis had bought several of the weapons that were used in the ordeal, which also included the very gun that was used to kill the judge. She was also said to have been talking to one of the inmates that was involved. According to Californian laws, 'all persons concerned in the commission of a crime, whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense ... principals in any crime so committed' and so a warrant was issued for Davis due to her connection with the situation. She was charged with 'aggravated kidnapping and first degree murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley'. What was practically a manhunt went underway beginning on the 14th August 1970 and Davis was finally found on October 13th 1970. Between these dates, Davis had been put on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted fugitive list, making her the 3rd women ever to be so. President Dixon even congratulated the FBI on their 'capture'.

On January 5th 1971, Angela appeared in court and declared her innocence saying:

'I am innocent of all changes which have been levelled against me by the state of California'

Angela spent the next 18 months in prison and was separated from all the other prisoners and placed in solitary confinement. That was, until her legal team helped her to get out of this situation with a federal court order. At the same time she was in prison, Davis had the public on her side and by February 1971, more than 200 committees in the US and 67 in other countries abroad, were fighting to get Angela released from prison. She was released on bail after 16 months in prison, with help from people paying her bail fee, and after 18 months in jail, Davis was acquitted on June 4th 1972, after a jury declared a verdict of 'not-guilty'. Although she had bought guns used in the attack, there was not actual any proof to say she was involved in the attack.

Since then, and even to this day, Angela continues to work on her activism work. She lectures on topics such as racism,sexism,women's rights, the criminal justice system and more. Angela considers herself to be an abolitionist, meaning that she believes in the abolition of the prison system. (Read 'Are Prisons Obsolete?)

'Prisons do not disappear social problems, they disappear human beings. Homelessness, unemployment, drug addiction, mental illness, and illiteracy are only a few of the problems that disappear from public view when the human beings contending with them are relegated to cages.'

She has also released several books (some of which are listed below):

  • If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance 
  • Angela Davis: An Autobiography
  • Women, Race and Class
  • Women, Culture & Politics, Vintage  
  • Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday
  • Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prisons, Torture, and Empire, Seven Stories Press 
  • The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues 
  • Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
  • Are Prisons Obsolete? 

Her work is work that will (and has been) make the World a better place. 

Sources:

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