Angela Davis: Activist, Writer, Scholar, Bad Ass. At 73 she is still fighting the 
fight. While it’s a shame that these fights still need to be fought, it’s comforting to know that a veteran of these issues is there to lend a hand. Angela is an icon of social justice and activism. If you’re new to the game then you might recognize Angela as one of the speakers for the women’s march in Washington.
Raised in an activist home, she grew up protesting and organizing against racism and its systemic expressions. Her path has not been an easy one, peppered with arrests, imprisonment and investigation by the FBI. This seems to be partly due to her activism and partly due to her involvement with some Communist and socialist groups, both of which would have been viewed with suspicion in the 60’s. I wasn’t even aware that there were active communist parties in North America, but I suppose the overarching concept of a collective taking care of one another would be appealing to disenfranchised groups.
Angela studied French and philosophy at Brandeis University and the 
University of Frankfurt. She went on to work as a professor at UCLA, but was fired twice, first for her association with the Communist Party (but was reinstated) and then again for using “inflammatory language” in speeches.
No stranger to controversy, Angela even made it on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. She was so famous/infamous that John Lennon, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Todd Cochran and Phil Ranelin even wrote songs about her.
It seems that wherever there is oppression, Angela Davis steps up to combat it. If there is an issue, from prison reform, LGBT rights, Black rights, terrorism, immigration, women’s rights, etc. she has a voice for it. There is no shortage of interviews where you can check her out on YouTube. Below is one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GAMR0JPXDHo
Thanks for stopping by!
-Erin