Angela Davis: biography, activism, ideas, works

angelaDavis is an American philosopher, writer, teacher and activist. Since the 1960s, Davis has fought for the rights of the black population and women in the United States. Intellectually, she is influenced by the Marxism and by the Frankfurt School. In social movements, she defends equality between blacks and whites and gender equality, in addition to theorizing about the importance of black feminism to recognize the difficulties of black women in society, who, in addition to suffering from misogyny, also suffers from racism.

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Angela Davis Biography

Angela Yvonne Davis born on January 26, 1944, in the city of Birmingham, Alabama, in the United States. Her city suffered, at the time of her birth, with the policy of racial segregation deployed in most southern states of the United States.

Angela Davis, philosopher and activist for black rights in the United States. [1]

Davis experienced early on the racism

, seeing the brutal actions of one of Alabama's most popular organizations at the time, the Ku Klux Klan. In addition to the official segregation policy, which did not allow the black population to have the recognition of their civil rights and separated public spaces for blacks and whites, Angela Davis experienced acts of barbarism promoted by whites against the black people. The black lynchings it's the criminal fire and explosion of houses and churches in neighborhoods inhabited by blacks.

As a teenager, Davis organized a study group on racial issues. Her group was discovered, chased and banned by the police. After completing basic studies, at the age of 19, Davis moved to Massachusetts, in the north of the United States, to study at Brandeis University. Although racism is a phenomenon present everywhere, the northern states of the United States were far ahead on racial issues, not having, for example, a policy of racial segregation.

At Brandeis University, Davis was a student of HerbertMarcuse, German philosopher of Frankfurt School, a refugee in the United States since the 1930s due to his Jewish origins. Marcuse was an intellectual much admired by the American university left in the 1960s, having including actively participating in the student protests that arose in France and echoed around the world in May 1968.

In 1963, the year Davis moved to Massachusetts, there was a bomb attack in a church attended by blacks in Birmingham. Four black teenagers died in the attack motivated by racism, and the four were known to Angela Davis. This fact marked her trajectory and made her realize how important it was to fight for the racial issue in her country.

From then on, Davis actively integrated into the social struggle, having joined the SNCC, which was an anti-racist organization founded by black activist Stokely Carmichael. The SNCC had as principles the peaceful resistance, ideal of struggle also defended by the activist, philosopher, theologian and black pastor Martin Luther King. Over time, the SNCC ceased to exist. Both Carmichael and Angela Davis embraced a more radical style of rights struggle, joining the Black Panther Party, later becoming known as Black Panther Movement.

You panthersblack they were supporters of a more incisive and combative anti-racist fight, even adhering to the armed struggle against racism. Angela Davis, however, was part of the movement's peaceful front. At that time, the activist also joined the Communist Party of the United States.

Stokely Carmichael, founder of the SNCC and member of the Black Panthers.

In 1969, for his links with the Communist Party and the Black Panthers, Davis was fired from the University of California, where she taught Philosophy. In 1970, the siege against her became even heavier. Fighting the unjust imprisonment of blacks in the United States, the philosopher was the victim of a misunderstanding that put her in FBI's Top Ten Most Wanted Criminals Listshe, accused of conspiracy, kidnapping and murder.

In August 1970, Angela Davis was, as a representative of the Black Panthers, accompanying the trial of three militants of the movement who were in prison, the so-called BrothersSolity The brother of one of the imprisoned boys, Jonathan Jackson, just 17 years old, invaded the court with two other cronies, all armed, kidnapping, in a van, the judge, the prosecutor and the jurors.

In the parking lot, Jonathan Jackson yelled that he wanted in exchange for the hostages the release of the Soledade Brothers. The result of the episode was tragic: the police chased the kidnappers, there was a shooting, Jonathan Jackson killed the judge kidnapped, the prosecutor was shot by the police and became paralyzed and the kidnappers were killed by the cops.

According to police investigations, the weapon used by Jonathan Jackson was registered in the name of Angela Davis. On August 18, 1970, Angela Davis joined the FBI's top ten most wanted criminals list. She remained at large until October 1970, when she was arrested in new york. There was an intense search for her, with high media coverage. Her trial lasted an intense eighteen months for the black movement and for society in general, which started to discuss the unjust imprisonment of black people.

There was a great campaign for your release, drawing the attention of activists, artists and intellectuals. The musician, composer and ex-beatle John Lennon and the composer and artist Yoko Ono they composed the song “Angela” in her honor. the british rock band Rolling Stones composed the song “Sweet Black Angel”, asking for Angela's release.

The intense 18 months of imprisonment and trial ended with the Angela's innocence proven in court and her release.

Angela Davis in Moscow in 1978. [2]

After jail, Angela became a distinguished professor of philosophy and history at several prestigious universities in the United States. She has written and published several books, campaigned for the end of Vietnam War, against racism and for gender equality.

In 1980 and 1984, he ran for vice president of the United States by the Communist Party, on the ticket of presidential candidate Gus Hall. She is a fierce critic of the US prison system, considering herself a penal abolitionist. The activist fights for the end of serving sentences in prisons, as she considers that the prisons of the United States have become a huge prison for black and Latino people.

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Angela Davis Ideas

Angela Davis is an outstanding intellectual on the current political scene. We can list as her main ideas:

• Abolition of prisons: Davis argues that prisons have grown enormously and have become the destination of many blacks, Latinos and natives in the United States. According to the philosopher, the increase in prisons and the prison population does not fight crime, which continues to increase. She argues that alternatives aimed at educating marginalized populations should be taken to that the number of incarcerations decrease until it reaches the point where prisons are no longer necessary.
• Resistance: as a black activist, Angela Davis highlights the important role of black resistance in the fight against racism and the integration of all so that anti-racism is effective.
• Intersection between class, race and gender: these three categories, social class, race and gender, are intertwined, and it is not possible to separate them, according to Davis. For the author, many militants on the left only see the factor of social class, and many militants feminists close their eyes to racial issues. It is necessary to see that the three categories are together.
• Link between racism and sexual violence: as a legacy of slavery, in which the masters had legal legitimacy over the bodies and lives of their male and female slaves, there is a tendency to think that the white man has power over the woman's body. black. There is also a trend towards greater sexualization of black women by the media, and this reinforces the stereotype that black women are a sexual object. Davis recognizes that white women also suffer from this problem, caused by male domination, but understands that black women are at a greater disadvantage for ethnic reasons.

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Angela Davis Books

• Women, Race and Class: in this book, the philosopher expounds one of her greatest ideas, that there is an inseparable intersection between class, race and gender. She also presents her thesis against the prison system. It was the first and most widespread book by Angela Davis in Brazil.
• Women, Culture and Politics: is a compilation of articles written and lectures given by Davis. In this book, she makes a sort of overview of her struggle and the situation of black feminism in the world.
• Are Prisons Obsolete?: is a book in which the philosopher is dedicated to developing her thesis against incarceration, presenting the from the vision of the US prison system, how prisons became spaces to detain minorities ethnic groups.
• Freedom is a constant struggle: the book released in 2018 is a compilation of articles, interviews and lectures made between 2013 and 2015. It is an overview of several of the author's ideas and was organized by activist Frank Barat.

Image credits

[1]Antonio Scorza / Shutterstock

[2]RIA Novosti archive / commons

by Francisco Porfirio
Philosophy teacher

Source: Brazil School - https://brasilescola.uol.com.br/filosofia/angela-davis.htm