The Story of Angela Davis

             Many Years ago, the civil rights movement became a mark into history. One of the greatest hero's fought for people of color in America. One of them was the one and only Angela Davis. She was the woman who fought for women in America and people of color. Angela Davis is a Master Scholar who studied at the Sorbonne. She ended up joining the U.S. Communist Party where she would find herself fighting for the rights for women and people of color. She ended up incarcerated for a prison break but ended up being cleared. That didn't stop her voice from being heard. She not only fought but is an amazing professor and author. Her books tell everything you need to know about black history and the truth. It is very well recommended that you take some time to read a few of her published books. Here is the story of Angela Davis.

In 1944, Angela Davis came into this world. Born and raised in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis lived in a middle-class neighborhood that was named "Dynamite Hill". The name of that neighborhood came from tragic events caused by the Ku Klux Klan. The Ku Klux Klan would bomb houses of African Americans in the neighborhood terrorizing many. Back then, schools were segregated, and she was one of the kids who attended those schools. She said that the schools African Americans were forced to go to was ran down and never kept up. Constant unfair treatment while across the street at the school only Caucasians were to attend had a perfectly built building and better things. 

    Davis ended up moving to New York. While she left, Alabama began their civil rights movement. Which, Davis couldn't attend due to moving away. In New York, Angela Davis excelled as a student. She ended up graduating Brandeis University in 1965. She later on spoke about being only the few black students there. She noted that she encountered an oppression that she was unfamiliar with. She states that when she moved from the South to the North, it really wasn't any different. It was a new form of racism she couldn't articulate. During her undergraduate years in college, she learned about the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, which killed four girls she knew. 

    Angela Davis became involved in Black Politics and in several organizations for Black women, including Sisters Inside and Critical Resistance. Fun fact, she helped found both of those organizations. Not only that, Davis joined the Black Panthers and the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee. Though, she was affiliated with black panthers, she did state that it was sexist and paternalistic. Women were expected take a seat in the back and sit at the feet of men. Davis spent most of her time at the Che-Lumumba Club. It was an all-black branch of the Communist Party. Davis helped the group's chairman, Franklin Alexander, organize and lead numerous protests, calling not only for racial equality but for women rights, to end police brutality, better housing, and stop the depressing level of unemployment in black neighborhoods. 

During this period, in 1969, Davis was an assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles.  She taught Kant, Marxism, and philosophy in Black Literature. She was popular through all the students and faculty. It is said that her first lecture drew 1,000 people but it all went downhill when they found out about her being in a Communist Party. A judge didn't let that slide because she ended up rehired. The judge ruled that it isn't fair that Davis was to get fired over being in a Communist party. She then was fired again over things she voiced her opinion about on June 20, 1970. 

After her dismissal from UCLA, Davis got involved in the case of the Soledad Brothers. A group of Black prisoners in Soledad Prison. Three Prisoners George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette were charged with the murder of a guard in the prison. Davis did not let anything be unfair towards anyone. Davis and a few others formed the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee. They worked and tried to free the prisoners. Davis later on became the leader of the group. Things go downhill when on August 7th, 1970, Johnathan Jackson, the 17 year old brother of George Jackson, kidnapped the Marin County Superior Court Judge Harold Haley in attempt to negotiate the release of the Soledad Brothers. Haley was killed in a failed attempt, but little did anyone know, the guns Jonathan used traced back to Angela. Angela got arrested but charges dropped but she was on FBI's most wanted and hid for some time.

Angela Davis Joined the Communist Party after MLK was assassinated in 1968 and ran for vice president on the Communist Party ticket in 1980 and 1984. Davis wasn't the first to run for vice president. A few years after her two vice presidential runs, in 1991, Davis left the Communist Party, though she continues to be involved in some of its activities. Angela Davis played a major role in the push for criminal justice reforms and other resistance to what she calls " Prison Industrial complex". In her essay she wrote that the sexual abuse in women's prison " is one of the most heinous state-sanctioned human rights violations in the United States Today".

   Now today, she teaches college courses to many students in California. Back then she was told she would never be able to teach again. The moral of the story is, never stop fighting. This is your chance to fight for what you want. Angela Davis is a Hero that forever will be given flowers for her hard work and dedication towards people of color and our rights. Thank you Angela Davis for the beautiful energy and sacrifice you've made for many.