Jan. 26, 1944: Angela Davis is Born
Photo by Ilka Hartmann of Angela Davis during a speech in California in 1981.
Angela Davis, born on January 26, 1944, is a political activist, academic and author.
In 1970, she was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List on false charges, jailed, and eventually freed with the help of a national campaign that demanded her release. Davis co-founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex.
Here are two contemporary interviews with Davis of note: discussion about Frederick Douglass with Toni Morrison and reflections on the prison abolition movement on Democracy Now!
Related Materials
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Why We Should Teach About the FBI’s War on the Civil Rights Movement
Article. By Ursula Wolfe-Rocca. If We Knew Our History series. 2016.
A 1971 break-in at FBI offices revealed a conspiracy—known as COINTELPRO—for the FBI to infiltrate, disrupt, and destroy a wide range of activist groups, especially civil rights organizations. Textbooks ignore this chapter in U.S. history, but it’s essential background to understand what’s happening today.
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The FBI’s War on Black America
Film. By Deb Ellis and Denis Mueller. 1990. 47 min.
Documentary of people targeted by the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (COINTELPRO) in the 1960s and 70s.
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