A scholar, activist, and philosopher, Angela Davis (born 1944) is a powerful and influential, but also often criticized public figure. She has had a place in many notable groups of people, including the National Women’s Hall of Fame, the Time’slist of the 100 most influential people in the world, and the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.
Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama, in a neighborhood that had been bombed in an attempt to drive-out the Black people who lived there. She attended a segregated school until she was able to transfer to an integrated high school in New York City. From a young age, she was educated and influenced by communists. Academically, she was particularly interested in the works of the Existentialist Jean-Paul Sartre.
It is beyond the scope to detail everything she has done–Davis is an incredibly accomplished woman–so as a brief rundown of a few of her more notable actions, she
Participated in the radical Socialist German Student Union in East Germany
Joined the Black Panther Party
Joined the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Joined the Che-Lumumba Club
Earned a PhD
Began teaching, was fired for being a Communist, was rehired, was refired
Was declared a terrorist and on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List (only the third woman to be so listed)
Was declared not guilty by an all-White jury (after an international backlash)
Resumed teaching, but secretly, despite being officially hired? Her students were sworn to secrecy but it was an actual class.
Davis is a lesbian; she lives with her partner, fellow professor, Gina Dent.
Here is a Black History Month post I made featuring 8 Black womxn in history you may not be familiar with but absolutely should be.
Something most all of these women have in common is that they were/are dark skinned. Most of these women experienced hardship, abuse, and trauma after trauma, literally laboring most of their lives in survival mode to be (almost) forgotten to history. Those who had celebrity or stardom didn’t have it easy, either. We must not romanticize the struggles these women faced and fought against for liberation. We must keep their names elevated and give them their roses while they’re still here.
Black women are the backbone of every movement. Past, present and future. This is why reparations are owed; why it is not enough to merely say you’re “not racist,” but to be actively anti-racist and to divest in whiteness and anti-Black racism and invest in Black lives.
Thank and pay a Black woman TODAY, and not only because of or during #blackhistorymonth Also, if you learned something from this post, save it, share it, or comment your support! You should also pay me for my labor; the information is included in the last slide.
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ID: Black text on yellow background that reads “8 Black Womxn in History (That You Should Know But Probably Don’t). There are 10 slides total. On the slides, in order, are Fannie Lou Hamer, Miriam Makeba, Marsha P Johnson, Ella Baker, Claudette Colvin, Celia Cruz, Gladys Bentley, Miss Major Griffin Gracy. The last slide is a reference page with the author, Ericka Gail, Mentalhealthfemme, payment information and ways to support.]
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