Angela Davis

  • Legendary Human Rights Activist
  • Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness, University of California Santa Cruz

Angela Davis offers thoughtful analysis of ongoing liberation efforts and insights on the intersectional struggle for racial, economic and gender equality.

Angela has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.

The author of nine books, including Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement, she is now a Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D program, and of Feminist Studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

Drawing upon her own infamous arrest, imprisonment and ultimate acquittal in the early seventies after being placed on the FBI's "Ten Most Wanted List,” Angela shares a powerful critique of racism in the criminal justice system. As both an observer and participant to consciousness-shifting global movements, she bridges the past and present with incisive insights on the interconnected fight for civil rights, feminism, and working class issues. Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.

 


Angela Davis headshot
Past Hosts Include:
  • Qualtrics
  • Hamilton College
  • Arizona State University
  • Ryerson University
  • ACLU Oregon
  • ACLU
  • Loyola University of Chicago
  • North Carolina State University
  • University of Chicago
Rave Reviews About Angela Davis as a Speaker
Professor Angela Davis was an absolutely wonderful, fantastic, incredible speaker. She was very humble and open, and everyone who had the opportunity to interact with her only had positive things to say about Ms. Davis.

Virtual Discussion - Their Democracy And Ours: A defining exchange | Haymarket Books and Jacobin [1:29:50] - Get Sharable Link
Talks & Conversations with Angela Davis

Education or Incarceration?

Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism

Cultural and Historical Studies of Race and Ethnicity

Feminist Theory

Culture and Ideology

Democracy and Civil Engagement

(-)
Books by Angela Davis
(-)
Press & Media
(-)
Biography

Through her activism and scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She also has taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She spent the last fifteen years at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is now Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D program, and of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of nine books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” Davis has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender and imprisonment. Her most recent book is Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement.

Davis is a founding member Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex.  Internationally, she is affiliated with Sisters Inside, an abolitionist organization based in Queensland, Australia that works in solidarity with women in prison.

Like many other educators, Professor Davis is especially concerned with the general tendency to devote more resources and attention to the prison system than to educational institutions. Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.