Heroes: Angela Davis
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The thing I love most about feminism is the tradition of and potential for collectivity. I get energy and inspiration from feminists who came before me and who surround me now. I have already discussed many of them (including my mother, grandmother, and leaders like Cecile Richards). In this post, I want to highlight the work of Angela Davis, a feminist who has influenced me immensely.
Admittedly, it will be very hard for me to do Davis justice with this piece. My goal is for this post to celebrate her work and introduce it to those who are unfamiliar with her. It also serves to give her credit for some of the inspiration and ethos behind Uterish and all that we aspire to be.
(blackpower.web.unc.edu)
Angela Davis was born in Alabama in 1944. From a young age, she gained unfortunate insight into the functions of white supremacy in the United States through experiences of racial prejudice. As a teenager, Davis was already resisting racism with interracial study groups that the police eventually broke up. Davis was also touched by the Birmingham Church Bombing of 1963; she knew several of the girls killed by the blast.
Davis devoted her early adulthood to higher education and organizing. She became associated with the Black Panthers and an all-black sect of the Communist Party. Her politics, specifically her communist leaning, were the cause of her being fired from a teaching position at UCLA. Davis fought this termination in court and got the job back, but chose to leave after the contract was up in 1970.
Also in the early 70s, Davis was arrested on several charges for her association with a murder case. Davis had supported the release of George Jackson (one member of the Soledad Brothers) in her activism. Jackson attempted to escape custody during his trial in 1970. During this attempt, some people from the courtroom died and Davis was considered to have had a part in these events. This flimsy accusation was an excuse to imprison and silence her. She spent 18 months in jail, sparking her interest in the Prison Industrial Complex. Davis represented herself in her own court case. At the time, she was known and resented by California Governor Ronald Reagan and US President Richard Nixon, both of whom wanted to see her behind bars. At one point, Angela Davis even appeared on the FBI’s Most Wanted list. A very impactful image to me is that of Davis entering the courtroom to defend herself––her afro as a subtle but provocative form of resistance. She eventually won the case and was acquitted. However, her interest in and critique of the US prison system remained.
(Pinterest)
(pinterest)
Angela Davis first entered my consciousness when I read her name on the spine of her book, Women, Race, and Class, on my mother’s bookshelf. I was probably in elementary school at the time. Since then, her activism has only meant more and more to me. Recently, her paper titled “Racism, Birth Control, and Reproductive Rights” was an assigned reading for my Queer Feminist Theories course in college. She is one of the most important activists and scholars ever, yet I find that many aren’t familiar with her contributions to feminism or racial justice. This is, no doubt, an erasure caused by misogynoir (prejudice against Black women) in academia of all levels. Giving her fair recognition is an act of resistance to this erasure.
I’d like to end with a quote of hers that I jotted down when I saw her speak in Seattle, WA on January 12th, 2017. She urged us to be “able to imagine ourselves as much more than the individual.” This quote brings me back to Uterish’s original motivation in writing this Heroes series. The work of feminism is not done individually, nor is it centrally about improving life conditions of individuals. What we have learned from leaders such as Angela Davis is that this work is inherently collective.
To begin to familiarize yourself with Angela Davis, I recommend:
-Freedom is a Constant Struggle, by Angela Davis (book of speeches and interviews)
-The Black Power Mixtape (documentary on Black activism after the Civil Rights Era - and my favorite documentary!)
(Lawatthemargins.com)
(ShadowandAct.com)