(A series brought to you by Feminist Global Resistance)
The Series:
Patriarchy ensures that male (almost exclusively white colonizer) history is remembered though a few women shine through or are given a twisted footnote.
More often, women are relegated to lost tomes and forgotten lore. Some shine through in song and tales while others, more recently, are beginning to have their stories told (progress?)
Throughout history, women around the world have stood to fight patriarchy, some winning, some losing, but they often brought revolution and change, their lives given for the just causes of freedom, liberty and justice.
This series will focus on the stories of some of those women who have stood up to patriarchy fighting oppression and colonization; confronting violence and abuse; And sacrificing everything in a fight for freedom, justice, and human rights. There have been many. I have chosen just a few of those who inspire me by their bravery and resolve.
Learn their names, learn from them, let them inspire you to do great things.
Part 2: “Notorious” ANGELA!
Angela Yvonne Davis (Born: 1944)
The “notorious” Angela Davis, Educator, Feminist, Marxist, Black Panther, and Revolutionary; Staunch Advocate for Black Rights, Women’s Rights, Gay Rights, Prison Reform, Palestinian Rights… Civil and Human Rights, began life on January 26, 1944, in the “Dynamite Hill” neighborhood (so nicknamed due to the number of homes targeted and destroyed by the Ku Klux Klan in an attempt to drive Black middle class families out) of segregated Birmingham, Alabama.
As a young girl, she became well acquainted with racism and violence. As a teenager, she became an activist marching against segregation and organizing interracial study groups (which were raided by the Birmingham police). In college, she learned of the deaths of neighbors and family friends in the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing, in Birmingham, September 15, 1963.
“I experienced it as a deeply personal assault, and it was a little while before I could stand back and think about the larger impact of it; the way it represented an effort to wipe out the resistance of youth. I think it was probably one of the moments that helped me find that path.” (Angela Davis, March 2022)
Angela grew to be one of the most famous (and infamous) feminists and activists in the US.
She continues her work to this day.
Learn her story, read her words, be inspired…
HER story…
Angela Davis was raised around communists; her mother was active in the Black civil rights movement in Birmingham that was backed by communist organizations.
In high school, Angela moved to Greenwich Village, New York City, as a part of a program that paired Black students from the South with white families in the North. While there, she attended Elisabeth Irwin High School, a very progressive school in Manhattan, and soon joined the school’s communist youth group. (Angela Davis, “Well, I went to high school in New York and it was at high school that I first read The Communist Manifesto!” March 2022)
Upon graduating high school, Angela earned a scholarship to and her B.A. from Brandeis University, Massachusetts, then moved to Germany to study philosophy at the University of Frankfurt in West Germany (Goethe University) under philosopher Herbert Marcuse. She completed her M.A. at University of California, San Diego and her Ph.D., at Humboldt University of Berlin.
By 1969, she was sought by Princeton, Swarthmore, and UCLA. She chose UCLA and became an assistant professor in philosophy; By August, 1970, she became only the third woman in US history to land on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list.
“I am a Revolutionary Black Woman”
~ Angela Davis
After receiving her Ph.D. in Germany, Angela returned to the US and became involved with the Civil Rights Movement and was drawn to the work of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and the Black Panther Party. She was interested in their commitment to civil rights and “Black Power” but did not agree with their all of their policies, specifically the divisions between male and female members. She felt that male leaders expected women to stay in the background and not lead, noting that the Communist Party was more welcoming to women and focused on ending capitalism. Though she collaborated with members of the Black Panther Party, she took a leadership role within a local chapter of the Communist Party.
It was in 1969, that Angela started gaining notoriety for her activism.
After accepting her position at UCLA, the then Governor, Ronald Reagan (a notorious anti-communist, “Red Scare” holdover from the HUAC era), became aware of Ms. Davis’ political affiliations and attempted to force UCLA to fire her. Faculty and students rallied around her as she fought back filing a case in court and won. She was reinstated to her position.
It was a short-lived win, however. The Board of Regents of UCLA, claiming her comments in speeches were too politically incendiary, refused to extend her contract that expired in January, 1970.
It was during the period, Angela gained national attention for her involvement with the Soledad Brothers – George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette, inmates at Soledad Prison charged with the murder of a white prison guard. She became a supporter of The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee, eventually, befriending the inmates, and became the leader of the movement to free the Soledad Brothers.
During George Jackson’s trial, August 1970, Jackson’s 17 year old brother, using a weapon registered to Angela Davis, took over the Marin County courthouse in an attempt to help the inmates escape. Five hostages were taken. In the ensuing shoot-out with police, the Superior Court Judge was killed … and so were the Soledad Brothers.
Davis was accused of taking part in the event and was charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy.
Knowing she could face the Death Penalty and with her healthy distrust of the judicial system, Angela went into hiding and was placed on the FBI’s “Most Wanted” – only the third woman ever to be on that list by 1970.
Denied bail, Angela spent 18 months in jail, often in solitary confinement (her ideas were just “too dangerous”).
The world finally took notice…
“FREE ANGELA”
Having long been an advocate for prison reform, it was Angela’s time in prison that taught her the hard lessons of the criminal justice system, especially the unique challenges women face in the prison system.
Outside the prison walls, a rumble grew in the streets; songs about Angela were being written; and the movement to “Free Angela” took form. John Lennon, The Rolling Stones both wrote songs of support; University students across the country came out in protest against her incarceration, News media around the world began reporting on and clamoring for interviews with “Angela Davis”. She became the “cause celebre”; an international symbol of resistance; her name and face the universal symbol for the social justice revolution.
The real Angela remained an activist throughout.
In an interview from prison with a Swedish reporter, she was asked if she approves of the use of violence by the Black Panthers:
“You ask me whether I approve of violence? That just doesn’t make any sense at all. Whether I approve of guns? I grew up in Birmingham, Alabama. Some very, very good friends of mine were killed by bombs – bombs that were planted by racists. I remember, from the time I was very small, the sound of bombs exploding across the street and the house shaking … That’s why, when someone asks me about violence, I find it incredible because it means the person asking that question has absolutely no idea what black people have gone through and experienced in this country from the time the first black person was kidnapped from the shores of Africa.”
Under the watchful eye of the planet, Angela went to trial in June, 1972, and was acquitted of all charges.
Author, Educator and Radical Spirit FOREVER!
Angela’s time in prison only fueled her passion for equality and justice. She participated in an international speaking tour and accepted invitations to visit several communist countries, including Cuba, the Soviet Union, and East Germany. Angela also founded several advocacy organizations, including the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression.
In 1980 and 1984, Communist Party USA‘s nomination for vice president. In 1991, she left the party and founded the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism but has continued a relationship with CPUSA.
She returned to teaching, first in secrecy, at Claremont Black Studies Center at the Claremont Colleges in 1975; Then went on to become a professor at UC Santa Cruz from 1991 to 2008, teaching Ethnic Studies, Philosophy, and Women’s Studies at University of California – Santa Cruz. She retired from formal teaching in 2008.
Davis has authored more than twenty books, many translated into multiple languages.
Her very presence continues to rattle conservatives and the US government. She won’t “go quietly into that goodnight”.
Angela Davis continues to speak, continues her activism and continues to be the proverbial “burr under the saddle” of patriarchy.
#Women #WomensRights #Revolution