Angela Davis

Angela Y. Davis is a political activist, scholar, and author whose work has focused on racial justice, feminism, and prison abolition. Davis studied under philosopher Herbert Marcuse, who influenced her approach to combining academic scholarship with activism. She gained national attention after being removed from her teaching position at the University of California, Los Angeles, due to her membership in the Communist Party, following pressure from then–California Governor Ronald Reagan. Davis was later placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List on false charges, leading to a high-profile trial that ended in her acquittal.

After her acquittal, Davis pursued a career as a writer and educator, authoring ten books and lecturing across the United States, Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. Her book "Women, Race and Class" contributed to the development of intersectionality in feminist and African American studies. Davis further advanced the concept of prison abolition in works such as "Are Prisons Obsolete?" and "Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture." She also addressed global solidarity movements in "Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement." Additional publications include "Abolition.Feminism.Now.," co-authored with Gina Dent, Erica Meiners, and Beth Richie, and "Abolition: Politics, Practices, Promises, Vol. 1."

Davis has taught at San Francisco State University, Mills College, UC Berkeley, UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She spent her final 15 years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she is Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies. Her academic work encompasses feminism, African American studies, critical theory, popular music culture, social consciousness, and the philosophy of punishment. Davis is known for popularizing the term "prison industrial complex" and encourages critical examination of alternatives to incarceration.

Davis is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization focused on ending mass incarceration and shifting resources toward community-based alternatives such as education, healthcare, and housing. She appears in Ava DuVernay's documentary on racism and incarceration, "13th." Davis has received several awards, including the American Book Award, the Thomas Merton Center Award, and the Sackler Center First Award. The American Studies Association established the Angela Y. Davis Prize to honor scholars who apply their research for the public good. Davis has delivered lectures at institutions such as Morgan State University, contributing to ongoing discussions about justice, freedom, and democracy.