Angela Davis

Angela Davis
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Angela Davis
Davis in October 2006
Angela Yvonne Davis
Born
January 26, 1944 (age 67)
Birmingham, Alabama, U.S.
Ethnicity
African-American
Citizenship United States
Education University of Santa Cruz
Brandeis University, B.A., (1965)
Alma mater University of California, San Diego,
M.A.
Humboldt University, Ph.D., Philosophy
Occupation Activist, educator, author
University of California, Santa Cruz
Employer
(retired)
Influenced
by
Political
party
Spouse
Relatives
Herbert Marcuse
Communist Party USA (1969-1991),
Committees of Correspondence for
Democracy and Socialism (1991currenty)
Hilton Braithwaite div.[1]
Ben Davis, brother
Angela Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, scholar, and author. Davis emerged
as a nationally prominent activist in the 1960s, when she was associated with the Communist Party USA, the
Civil Rights Movement and the Black Panther Party. Prisoner rights have been among her continuing
interests; she is the founder of "Critical Resistance", an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial
complex. She is a retired professor with the History of Consciousness Department at the University of
California, Santa Cruz and is the former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.[2] Her
research interests are in feminism, African American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music and
social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons.[3]
Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from
teaching at any university in the State of California. She was tried and acquitted of suspected involvement in
the Soledad brothers' August 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County, California.
She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.
Contents
[hide]
•
•
1 Early life
2 Education
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2.1 Brandeis University
o
2.2 University of Frankfurt
o
2.3 Postgraduate work
3 UCLA
4 Arrest and trial
5 In Cuba
6 Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
7 Activism
8 Bibliography
o
8.1 Angela Davis interviews and appearances in audiovisual materials
o
8.2 Archives
9 See also
10 References
•
11 External links
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
[edit] Early life
Davis was born in Birmingham, Alabama. Her father, Frank Davis, was a graduate of St. Augustine's
College, a traditionally black college in Raleigh, North Carolina, and was briefly a high school history
teacher. Her father later owned and operated a service station in the black section of Birmingham. Her
mother, Sallye Davis, a graduate of Miles College in Birmingham, was an elementary school teacher.
The family lived in the "Dynamite Hill" neighborhood, which was marked by racial conflict. Davis was
occasionally able to spend time on her uncle's farm and with friends in New York City.[4] Her brother, Ben
Davis, played defensive back for the Cleveland Browns and Detroit Lions in the late 1960s and early 1970s.
Davis also has another brother, Reginald Davis, and sister, Fania Davis Jordan.[5]
Davis attended Carrie A. Tuggle School, a black elementary school; later she attended Parker Annex, a
middle-school branch of Parker High School in Birmingham. During this time Davis’ mother was a national
officer and leading organizer of the Southern Negro Congress, an organization heavily influenced by the
Communist Party. Consequently Davis grew up surrounded by communist organizers and thinkers who
significantly influenced her intellectual development growing up.[6] By her junior year, she had applied to and
was accepted at an American Friends Service Committee program that placed black students from the South
in integrated schools in the North. She chose Elisabeth Irwin High School in Greenwich Village in New York
City. There she was introduced to socialism and communism and was recruited by a Communist youth
group, Advance. She also met children of some of the leaders of the Communist Party USA, including her
lifelong friend, Bettina Aptheker.[7]
[edit] Education
[edit] Brandeis University
Davis was awarded a scholarship to Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts, where she was one of
three black students in her freshman class. She initially felt alienated by the isolation of the campus (at that
time she was interested in Albert Camus and Jean-Paul Sartre), but she soon made friends with foreign
students. She encountered the Frankfurt School philosopher Herbert Marcuse at a rally during the Cuban
Missile Crisis and then became his student. In a television interview, she said "Herbert Marcuse taught me
that it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar, and a revolutionary."[8] She worked part time to
earn enough money to travel to France and Switzerland before she went on to attend the eighth World
Festival of Youth and Students in Helsinki, Finland. She returned home in 1963 to a Federal Bureau of
Investigation interview about her attendance at the Communist-sponsored festival.[9]
During her second year at Brandeis, she decided to major in French and continued her intensive study of
Sartre. Davis was accepted by the Hamilton College Junior Year in France Program and, she wrote in her
autobiography, she managed to talk Brandeis into extending financial support via her scholarship. Classes
were initially at Biarritz and later at the Sorbonne. In Paris, she and other students lived with a French family.
It was at Biarritz that she received news of the 1963 Birmingham church bombing, committed by the
members of the Ku Klux Klan, an occasion that deeply affected her, because, she wrote, she was personally
acquainted with the young victims.[9]
Nearing completion of her degree in French, Davis realized her major interest was in philosophy. She
became particularly interested in the ideas of Herbert Marcuse and on her return to Brandeis she sat in on his
course without asking for credit. Marcuse, she wrote, turned out to be approachable and helpful. Davis began
making plans to attend the University of Frankfurt for graduate work in philosophy. In 1965 she graduated
magna cum laude, a member of Phi Beta Kappa.[9]
[edit] University of Frankfurt
In Germany, with a stipend of just $100 a month, she first lived with a German family. Later, she moved with
a group of students into a loft in an old factory. After visiting East Berlin during the annual May Day
celebration, she felt that the East German government was dealing better with the residual effects of fascism
than were the West Germans. Many of her roommates were active in the radical Socialist German Student
Union (SDS), and Davis participated in SDS actions, but events unfolding in the United States — the
formation of the Black Panther Party and transformation of SNCC, for example — impelled her to return to
the US.[9]
[edit] Postgraduate work
This section requires expansion.
Marcuse, in the meantime, had moved to the University of California, San Diego, and Davis followed him
there after her two years in Frankfurt.[9]
Returning to the United States, Davis stopped in London to attend a conference on "The Dialectics of
Liberation." The black contingent at the conference included the American Stokely Carmichael and the
British Michael X. Although moved by Carmichael's fiery rhetoric, she was disappointed by her colleagues'
black nationalist sentiments and their rejection of communism as a "white man's thing." She held the view
that any nationalism was a barrier to grappling with the underlying issue, capitalist domination of working
people of all races.[10]
Davis earned her master's degree from the San Diego campus and her doctorate in philosophy from
Humboldt University in East Berlin.[11]
Davis is currently a Distinguished Professor in the Women's and Gender Studies Department at Syracuse
University.[12] She also worked as a visiting professor with the Syracuse University Department of African
American studies.
[edit] UCLA
Davis was an acting assistant professor in the philosophy department at the UCLA, beginning in 1969. At
that time, she also was known as a radical feminist and activist, a member of the Communist Party USA and
an associate of the Black Panther Party.[2]
The Board of Regents of the University of California, urged by then-California Governor Ronald Reagan,
fired her from her $10,000 a year post in 1969 because of her membership in the Communist Party. Black
students and several professors, however, claimed that they fired her because of her race. The Board of
Regents was censured by the American Association of University Professors for their failure to reappoint
Davis after her teaching contract expired.[13] On October 20 when California judge, Perry Pacht, ruled that the
Regents could not fire Davis because of her affiliation with the Communist Party, Davis resumed her post at
the University. The Regents, unhappy with the decision, continued to search for ways to release Davis from
her position at UCLA. They finally accomplished this on June 20, 1970 when they fired Davis on account of
the “inflammatory language” she had used on four different speeches. “We deem particularly offensive,” the
report said, “such utterances as her statement that the regents ‘killed, brutalized (and) murdered’ the People’s
Park demonstrators, and her repeated characterizations of the police as ‘pigs.’” [14][15][16]
[edit] Arrest and trial
See also: Marin County courthouse incident
On August 7, 1970 Jonathan Jackson, a heavily armed, 17-year-old African American high school student
gained control over a courtroom in Marin County, California. Once in the courtroom, Jackson armed the
black defendants and took Judge Harold Haley, the prosecutor, and three female jurors as hostages.[17][18] As
Jackson transported the hostages and two black convicts away from the courtroom, the police began shooting
at the vehicle. The judge, one of the jurors, the prosecutor, and the three black men were killed in the melee.
Davis had purchased the firearms used in the attack, including the shotgun used to kill Haley, which had been
purchased two days prior and sawed-off.[18] She had also written numerous letters found in the prison cell of
one of the murderers. Since California considers “all persons concerned in the commission of a crime,
whether they directly commit the act constituting the offense… principals in any crime so committed,” San
Marin County Superior Judge Peter Allen Smith charged Davis with “aggravated kidnapping and first degree
murder in the death of Judge Harold Haley” and issued a warrant for her arrest (21). Hours after the judge
issued the warrant on August 14, 1970 a massive attempt to arrest Angela Davis began. On August 18, 1970,
four days after the initial warrant was issued, FBI director, J. Edgar Hoover made Angela Davis the third
woman and the 309th person to appear on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List.[17][19]
Soon after, Davis became a fugitive and fled California. According to her autobiography, during this time she
hid in friends’ homes and moved from place to place at night. On October 13, 1970 FBI agents found her at
the Howard Johnson Motor Lodge in New York City.[20] President Richard M. Nixon congratulated the FBI
on its “capture of the dangerous terrorist, Angela Davis." On January 5, 1971, after several months in jail,
Angela Davis appeared at the Marin County Superior Court and declared her innocence before the court and
nation: "I now declare publicly before the court, before the people of this country that I am innocent of all
charges which have been leveled against me by the state of California." John Abt, general counsel of the
Communist Party USA, was one of the first attorneys to represent Davis for her alleged involvement in the
shootings.[21] While being held in the Women's Detention Center there, she was initially segregated from the
general population, but with the help of her legal team soon obtained a federal court order to get out of the
segregated area.[22]
Angela Davis and Erich Honecker in GDR, 1972
Across the nation, the thousands of people who agreed with her declaration began organizing a liberation
movement. In New York City, black writers formed a committee called the Black People in Defense of
Angela Davis. By February 1971 more than 200 local committees in the United States, and 67 in foreign
countries worked to liberate Angela Davis from prison. Thanks, in part, to this support, in 1972 the state
released her from prison.[17] After spending 18 months behind bars, Davis was acquitted of all charges by an
all-white jury.
On February 23, 1972, Rodger McAfee, a dairy farmer from Caruthers, California with the help of Steve
Sparacino, a wealthy business owner, paid her $100,000 bail. Portions of her legal defense expenses were
paid for by the Presbyterian Church (UPCNA).[17][23]
During the trial, Davis was sketched by courtroom artists Rosalie Ritz and Walt Stewart.[24]
In 1972, she was tried and the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. The fact that she owned the guns used in
the crime was judged not sufficient to establish her responsibility for the plot. Her experience as a prisoner in
the US played a key role in convincing her to fight against the “prison industrial complex” that exists in the
US.[17] John Lennon and Yoko Ono recorded their song "Angela" on their 1972 album Some Time in New
York City in support. The Jazz musician Todd Cochran, also known as Bayete, recorded his song "Free
Angela (Thoughts...and all I've got to say)" that same year. The Rolling Stones recorded the song "Sweet
Black Angel" on their 1972 album Exile on Main Street.[25]
[edit] In Cuba
After her release, Davis visited Cuba following her fellow radicals Huey Newton, Stokely Carmichael, and
Assata Shakur. Her reception by Afro-Cubans at a mass rally was so enthusiastic that she was reportedly
barely able to speak.[26]
During this visit she also became convinced that “only under socialism could the fight against racism be
successfully executed.” During her stay in Cuba, Davis witnessed what she thought was a racism free country
which led her to believe that blacks could only achieve racial equality in a socialist society. When she
returned to the United States, her socialist leanings increasingly influenced the ways she looked at race
struggles within the US.[27]
[edit] Aleksander Solzhenitsyn
In a New York City speech on July 9, 1975, Russian dissident and Nobel Laureate Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn
told an AFL-CIO meeting that Davis was derelict in supporting prisoners in various socialist countries
around the world, given her stark opposition to the U.S. prison system. In particular, Solzhenitsyn claimed
that a group of Czech prisoners appealed to Davis for support, which he said she refused to offer.[28] In a
speech at East Stroudsburg University in Pennsylvania, Davis denied Solzhenitsyn's claim.[29]
[edit] Activism
In 1980 and 1984, Angela Davis ran for Vice-President along with the veteran party leader of the Communist
Party, Gus Hall. However, given that the Communist Party lacked support within the US, Davis urged
radicals to amass support for the Democratic Party. Revolutionaries must be realists, said Davis in a
telephone interview from San Francisco where she was campaigning. During both of the campaigns she was
Professor of Ethnic Studies at the San Francisco State University.[30] In 1979 she was also awarded with the
Lenin Peace Prize from the Soviet Union for her civil rights activism. She visited Moscow in July of that
year to collect the prize.
Angela Davis as honorary guest of the World Festival of Youth and Students in 1973
Davis has continued a career of activism, and has written several books. A principal focus of her current
activism is the state of prisons within the United States. She considers herself an abolitionist, not a "prison
reformer," and has referred to the United States prison system as the "prison-industrial complex".[31] Davis
suggested focusing social efforts on education and building "engaged communities" to solve various social
problems now handled through state punishment.[2] Davis was one of the primary founders of Critical
Resistance, a national grassroots organization dedicated to building a movement to abolish the prison system.
In recent work, Angela Davis argues that the prison system in the United States more closely resembles a
new form of slavery than a criminal justice system. According to Davis, between the late 19th century and
the mid-20th century the number of prisons in the US sharply increased while crime rates continued to rise.
During this time, the African American population also became disproportionally represented in prisons.
"What is effective or just about this "justice" system?" she urged people to question.[32] To encourage people
to critically think about the criminal justice system and its racist history, Davis has also spent years lecturing
in schools, parks, and other public places to the American public.
She has lectured at San Francisco State University, Stanford University, Bryn Mawr College, Brown
University, Syracuse University, and other schools.[2] She states that in her teaching, which is mostly at the
graduate level, she concentrates more on posing questions that encourage development of critical thinking
than on imparting knowledge.[2] In 1997, she declared herself to be a lesbian in Out magazine.[33]
As early as 1969 Davis began publicly speaking, voicing her opposition to the Vietnam War, racism, sexism,
and the prison industrial complex, and her support of gay rights and other social justice movements. In 1969
she blamed imperialism for the troubles suffered by oppressed populations. “We are facing a common enemy
and that enemy is Yankee Imperialism, which is killing us both here and abroad. Now I think anyone who
would try to separate those struggles, anyone who would say that in order to consolidate an anti-war
movement, we have to leave all of these other outlying issues out of the picture, is playing right into the
hands of the enemy,” Davis declared.[34] In 2001 she publicly spoke against the war on terror, the prison
industrial complex, and the broken immigration system and told people that if they wanted to solve social
justice issues they had to “hone their critical skills, develop them and implement them." Later, after the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, she declared, the “horrendous situation in New Orleans,” is due to the
structures of racism, capitalism, and imperialism with which our leaders run this country.[35]
Davis spoke out against the 1995 Million Man March, arguing that the exclusion of women from this event
necessarily promoted male chauvinism and that the organizers, including Louis Farrakhan, preferred women
to take subordinate roles in society. Together with Kimberlé Crenshaw and others, she formed the African
American Agenda 2000, an alliance of Black feminists.[36]
Davis is no longer a member of the Communist Party, leaving it to help found the Committees of
Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism, which broke from the Communist Party USA because of the
latter's support of the Soviet coup attempt of 1991 and the Communist parties of the Warsaw Pact.[37] She
remains on the Advisory Board of the Committees.[38]
Davis at the University of Alberta, March 28, 2006.
Davis has continued to speak out against the death penalty. In 2003, Davis lectured at Agnes Scott College, a
liberal arts women's college in Atlanta, on prison reform, minority issues, and the ills of the criminal justice
system.[39]
At the University of California, Santa Cruz (UC Santa Cruz), she participated in a 2004 panel concerning
Kevin Cooper. She also spoke in defense of Stanley "Tookie" Williams on another panel in 2005,[40] and
2009.[41]
As of February 2007, Davis was teaching in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of
California, Santa Cruz.[42]
In addition to being the commencement speaker at Grinnell College in 2007, in October of that year, Davis
was the keynote speaker at the fifth annual Practical Activism Conference at UC Santa Cruz.[43]
On February 8, 2008, Davis spoke on the campus of Howard University at the invitation of Phi Beta Sigma
Fraternity. On February 24, 2008, she was featured as the closing keynote speaker for the 2008 Midwest
Bisexual Lesbian Gay Transgender Ally College Conference. On April 14, 2008, she spoke at the College of
Charleston as a guest of the Women's and Gender Studies Program. On January 23, 2009, she was the
keynote speaker at the Martin Luther King Commemorative Celebration on the campus of Louisiana State
University.[44]
On April 16, 2009, she was the keynote speaker at the University of Virginia Carter G. Woodson Institute for
African American and African Studies symposium on The Problem of Punishment: Race, Inequity, and
Justice.[45] On January 20, 2010, Davis was the keynote speaker in San Antonio, Texas, at Trinity University's
MLK Day Celebration held in Laurie Auditorium. On January 21, 2011, Davis was the keynote speaker in
Salem, OR at Willamette University's MLK Week Celebration held in Smith Auditorium where she declared
that her biggest goal for the coming years is to shut down prisons. During her remarks, she also noted that
while she supports some of President Barack Obama's positions, she feels he is too conservative. On January
27, 2011, Davis was the Martin Luther King, Jr. Celebration speaker at Georgia Southern University's
Performing Arts Center (PAC) in Statesboro, Georgia. On June 10, 2011, Davis delivered the Graduation
Address at the Evergreen State College, Olympia, Washington.[46]
As of 31 October 2011, Davis had spoken at the Philadelphia and Washington Square Occupy Wall Street
assemblies where, due to restrictions on electronic amplification, her words were human microphoned.[47][48]
[edit] Bibliography
Abolition Democracy: Beyond Prisons, Torture, and Empire, Seven Stories Press (October 1, 2005),
ISBN 1583226958.
• Are Prisons Obsolete?, Open Media, (April 2003), ISBN 1583225811
• Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday,
Vintage Books, (January 26, 1999), ISBN 0679771263
• Women, Culture & Politics, Vintage, (February 19, 1990), ISBN 0679724877.
• The Angela Y. Davis Reader, (Joy James, Ed.), Wiley-Blackwell (December 11, 1998), ISBN
0631203613.
• Women, Race, & Class, (February 12, 1983)
• Angela Davis: An Autobiography, Random House, (September 1974), ISBN 0394489780
• If They Come in the Morning: voices of Resistance (New York: Third Press, 1971)
• 1970's-Joan Little: The Dialectics of Rape(New York: Lang Communications, 1975)
• The Meaning of Freedom (City Lights, 2012)
•
[edit] Angela Davis interviews and appearances in audiovisual materials
•
1971
o
Davis, Angela Y. An Interview with Angela Davis. Cassette. Radio Free People, New York,
1971.
o
o
Myerson, M. "Angela Davis in Prison." Ramparts Magazine March 1971: 20-21.
Seigner, Art. Angela Davis: Soul and Soledad. Phonodisc. Flying Dutchman, New York,
1971.
o
Interview with Angela Davis in San Francisco on June, 1970
o
•
1972
o
•
Walker, Joe. Angela Davis Speaks. Phonodisc. Folkways Records, New York, 1971.
"Angela Davis Talks about her Future and her Freedom." Jet July 27, 1972: 54- 57.
1977
Davis, Angela Y. I am a Black Revolutionary Woman (1971). Phonodisc. Folkways, New
York, 1977.
o
Phillips, Esther. Angela Davis Interviews Esther Phillips. Cassette. Pacifica Tape Library, Los
Angeles, 1977.
1985
o
Cudjoe, Selwyn. In Conversation with Angela Davis. Videocassette. ETV Center, Cornell
University, Ithaca, 1985. 21 minute interview with Angela Davis.
1992
o
Davis, Angela Y. "Women on the Move: Travel Themes in Ma Rainey's Blues" in
Borders/diasporas. Sound Recording. University of California, Santa Cruz: Center for Cultural
Studies, Santa Cruz, 1992.
2000
o
Davis, Angela Y. The Prison Industrial Complex and its Impact on Communities of Color.
Videocassette. University of Wisconsin - Madison, Madison, WI, 2000.
2001
o
Barsamian, D. "Angela Davis: African American Activist on Prison-Industrial Complex."
Progressive 65.2 (2001): 33-38.
2002
o
September 11 America: an Interview with Angela Davis." Policing the National Body: Sex,
Race, and Criminalization”. Cambridge, Ma.: South End Press, 2002.
o
•
•
•
•
•
[edit] Archives
1. The National United Committee to Free Angela Davis is at the Main Library at Stanford University,
Palo Alto, California (A collection of thousands of letters received by the Committee and Davis from
people in the US and other countries.)
2. The complete transcript of her trial, including all appeals and legal memorandum, have been
preserved in the Meiklejohn Civil Liberties Library in Berkeley, California.
[edit] See also
‹ The template (Portal box) is being considered for merging. ›
Biography portal
African American portal
Communism portal
•
List of African American philosophers
[edit] References
1.
^ "Angela Davis, Sweetheart of the Far Left, Finds Her Mr. Right". People. July 21, 1980.
http://www.people.com/people/archive/article/0,,20077018,00.html. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
2.
^ a b c d e "Interview with Angela Davis". BookTV. 2004-10-03.
3.
^ Histcon.ucsc.edu[dead link]
4.
^ Davis, Angela Yvonne (March 1989). "Rocks". Angela Davis: An Autobiography. New York City:
International Publishers. ISBN 0717-80667-7.
5.
^ Aptheker, Bettina (1999). The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis (2nd ed.). Ithaca, New
York: Cornell University Press. http://books.google.com/books?
id=yA9vwr6g8cMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false.
6.
^ Kum-Kum Bhavnani, Bhavnani; Davis,Angela (Spring 1989). "Complexity, Activism, Optimism:
An Interview with Angela Y. Davis". Feminist Review (31): 66–81. JSTOR 1395091.
7.
^ Horowitz, David (Friday, November 10, 2006). "The Political Is Personal". Front Page Magazine.
http://archive.frontpagemag.com/readArticle.aspx?ARTID=1608. Retrieved February 11, 2011.
8.
^ "Sandiegoreader.com". Sandiegoreader.com. 2007-08-23.
http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/aug/23/bourgeois-marxist/. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
9.
^ a b c d e Davis, Angela Yvonne (March 1989). "Waters". Angela Davis: An Autobiography. New York
City: International Publishers. ISBN 0717-80667-7.
10.
^ Davis, Angela Yvonne (March 1989). "Flames". Angela Davis: An Autobiography. New York City:
International Publishers. ISBN 0717-80667-7.
11.
^ ""Women Outlaws: Politics of Gender and Resistance in the US Criminal Justice System", SUNY
Cortland, Mechthild Nagel". Web.cortland.edu. 2005-05-02.
http://web.cortland.edu/nagelm/papers_for_web/davis_assata06.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
12.
^ "WGS.syr.edu". WGS.syr.edu. http://wgs.syr.edu/FacultyStaff.htm. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
13.
^ Google Books. Books.google.com. 1972-05-25. http://books.google.com/books?
id=rrEDAAAAMBAJ&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_v2_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false.
Retrieved 2010-10-21.
14.
^ Davies, Lwrence (April 28, 2011). "U.C.L.A Teacher is Ousted as Red". The New York Times.
15.
^ Turner, Wallace (April 28, 2011). "California Regents Drop Communist From Faculty". The New
York Times.
16.
^ "UCLA Barred from Pressing Red's Ouster". The New York Times. April 28, 2011.
17.
^ a b c d e Aptheker, Bettina (1997). The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis. Cornell University
Press.
18.
^ a b Associated Press (August 17, 1970). "Search broadens for Angela Davis". Eugene RegisterGuard. http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=4BkRAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NuEDAAAAIBAJ&pg=6482%2C3554926. Retrieved September 14, 2009.
19.
^ __BookTextView/135;pt=125 "Biography". Davis (Angela) Legal Defense Collection, 1970-1972.
http://digilib.nypl.org/dynaweb/ead/scm/scmdavisa/@Generic __BookTextView/135;pt=125. Retrieved 200706-21.[dead link]
20.
^ Charleton, Linda (April 28, 2011). "F.B.I Seizes Angela Davisin Motel Here". The New York Times.
http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/home/davis-fbi.html?-r=1. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
21.
^ Abt, John; Myerson, Michael (1993). Advocate and Activist: Memoirs of an American Communist
Lawyer. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. ISBN 0252020308, 9780252020308.
http://books.google.com/books?
id=9REaIPPh4k4C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false.
22.
^ Davis, Angela Yvonne (March 1989). "Nets". Angela Davis: An Autobiography. New York City:
International Publishers. ISBN 0717-80667-7.
23.
^ Sol Stern (June 27, 1971). "The Campaign to Free Angela Davis and Ruchell Magee". The New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/home/davis-campaign.html.
24.
^ Kathleen Maclay, Media Relations (February 8, 2005). ""Two Artists of the Courtroom" on exhibit"
(Press release). University of California, Berkeley.
http://berkeley.edu/news/media/releases/2005/02/08_courtroomartist.shtml.
25.
^ Caldwell, Earl. "Angela Davis Acquitted on All Charges" The New York Times. June 5, 1972.
Retrieved on 2008-07-02.
26.
^ Gott, Richard (2004). Cuba: A New History. New Haven, Connecticut: Yale University Press. p.
230. ISBN 0-300-10411-1.
27.
^ Sawyer, Mark (2006). Racial politics in Post-Revolutionary Cuba. Los Angeles: University of
California. pp. 95–97.
28.
^ Solzhenitsyn, Aleksandr (October 1976). Warning to the West. New York: Farrar, Straus and
Giroux. pp. 60–61. ISBN 0374513341. http://www.angeladavis.org.
29.
^ Angela Davis, Q&A after a speech, "Engaging Diversity on Campus: The Curriculum and the
Faculty," East Stroudsburg University, Pennsylvania, 15 October 2006.
30.
^ Brooke, James (July 29, 1984). "Other Women Seeking Number 2 Spot Speak Out". The New York
Times. http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/03/08/home/davis-vp.html?_r=2. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
31.
^ Davis, Angela (10 September 1998). "Masked racism: reflections on the prison industrial complex".
Color Lines.
http://www.colorlines.com/archives/1998/09/masked_racism_reflections_on_the_prison_industrial_complex.ht
ml.
32.
^ Davis, Angela (2003). Are prisons Obsolete?. Canada: Open Media Series.
33.
^ "Angela Davis". Notable name database. http://www.nndb.com/people/185/000024113/. Retrieved
2007-07-21.
34.
^ Davis, Angela. "Speech by Angela Davis at a Black Panther Rally in Bobby Hutton Park". Speech.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/04/15/18589458.php. Retrieved April 26, 2011.
35.
^ "YouTube - Angela Davis (public speech) - LIVE". Speech. http://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=2JKENb33U4E.
36.
^ E. Frances White (2001). Dark continent of our bodies: black feminism and the politics of
respectability. Temple University Press. ISBN 9781566398800. http://books.google.com/books?
id=MLz7jo09yiAC&pg=PA78&dq=angela+davis+African+American+Agenda+2000,#v=onepage&q=angela
%20davis%20African%20American%20Agenda%202000%2C&f=false.
37.
^ "(title unknown)". Corresponder (Committees of Correspondence). 1992.
38.
^ "Advisory board". Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism website.
Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. 2007-07-20. http://www.ccds.org/advisory_bd.html. Retrieved 2007-07-20.
39.
^ "ASC Spotlight - Africana Studies". Agnesscott.edu.
http://www.agnesscott.edu/spotlightDetails.aspx?Channel=%2FChannels%2FAdmissions
%2FAdmissions+Content&WorkflowItemID=91360c59-8fdf-4a2c-871e-2a520121de7d. Retrieved October
20, 2011.
40.
^ ""Angela Davis: "The State of California May Have Extinguished the Life of Stanley Tookie
Williams, But They Have Not Managed to Extinguish the Hope for a Better World"", Democracy Now,
December 13, 2005". Democracynow.org. 2005-12-13.
http://www.democracynow.org/2005/12/13/angela_davis_the_state_of_california. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
41.
^ Bybee, Crystal (2009-11-11). "Indybay.org". Indybay.org.
http://www.indybay.org/newsitems/2009/11/11/18628372.php. Retrieved 2010-10-21.
42.
^ "NOW on the News with Maria Hinojosa: Angela Davis on Race in America". NOW. Public
Broadcasting System. February 23, 2007. http://www.pbs.org/now/news/308.html. Retrieved February 12,
2011.
43.
^ Santa Cruz Indymedia coverage of the 5th annual Practical Activism Conference at UC Santa Cruz.
44.
^ Foley, Melissa. "LSU to Hold Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration Events." LSU Highlights. Jan.
2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. [1]
45.
^ Bromley, Anne. "Angela Davis to Headline the Woodson Institute’s Spring Symposium." The
Woodson Institute Newsletter. 2 Apr. 2009. Web. 3 Nov. 2009. [2]
46.
^ "2011 Graduation Guest Speaker at Evergreen". Evergreen.edu. May 24, 2011.
http://www.evergreen.edu/graduation/guest-speaker.htm. Retrieved October 20, 2011.
47.
^ Nation of Change Washington Square assembly.
48.
^ YouTube of Occupy Philly address
[edit] External links
Wikiquote has a collection of quotations related to: Angela Davis
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Film clip, Davis speaking at Florida A&M University’s Black History Month convocation, 1979
Davis quotations gathered by Black History Daily
A PBS interview
Davis on "Masked Racism: Reflections on the Prison Industrial Complex." 1998
Round table discussion on "Resisting the Prison Industrial Complex, with Davis as a guest
New York Times archive of Davis-related articles
"The Facts Behind the Angela Davis Case" by Lawrence V. Cotj
Time chat-room users interview with Davis on "Attacking the 'Prison Industrial Complex." 1998
Harvard Gazette article, March 13, 2003
Davis timeline at UCLA
Audio recording of Davis at a Practical Activism Conference in Santa Cruz in 2007
Guardian interview with Davis, November 8, 2007
Davis entry in the Encyclopedia of Alabama
Angela Davis at the Internet Movie Database
Angela Davis at AllRovi
Angela Davis on the 40th Anniversary of Her Arrest and President Obama’s First Two Years - video
interview by Democracy Now!
• Angela Davis Biography, The Civil Rights Struggle, African American GIs, and Germany
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Party political offices
Preceded by
Jarvis Tyner
Communist Party USA Vice Presidential
candidate
1980 (lost), 1984 (lost)
Succeeded by
—
Angela Davis
Un article de Wikipédia, l'encyclopédie libre.
Aller à : Navigation, rechercher
Angela Davis
Angela Davis à l'université d'Alberta en 2006
26 janvier 1944
Birmingham
Nationalité américaine
Profession professeur d'université
Naissance
Angela Yvonne Davis, née le 26 janvier 1944 à Birmingham dans l'État de l'Alabama, est une militante
américaine communiste1 des droits de l'homme et un professeur de philosophie.
Militante des droits civiques, proche du Black Panther Party, elle fut poursuivie par la justice à la suite de la
tentative d’évasion de trois prisonniers, surnommés les Frères de Soledad, qui se solda par la mort d’un juge
californien en août 1970. Emprisonnée seize mois à New York puis en Californie, elle fut finalement
acquittée et poursuivit une carrière universitaire qui la mena au poste de directrice du département d’études
féministes de l’université de Californie. Ses centres d’intérêt sont la philosophie féministe, et notamment le
Black Feminism, les études afro-américaines, la théorie critique, le marxisme ou encore le système carcéral.
En 1997, elle fait son coming out auprès du magazine Out.
Elle fut à deux reprises, en 1980 et 1984, candidate à la vice-présidence des États-Unis pour le parti
communiste américain.
Sommaire
[masquer]
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1 Biographie
o 1.1 Enfance
o 1.2 Les années new-yorkaises
o 1.3 Études supérieures
o 1.4 Positionnement politique
o 1.5 Le procès
2 Hommages
3 Ouvrages
4 Bibliographie
5 Filmographie
6 Notes et références
7 Voir aussi
o 7.1 Articles connexes
o
7.2 Liens externes
Biographie[modifier]
Enfance[modifier]
Angela Davis est née dans une famille afro-américaine habitant l'Alabama des années 1944, alors que les lois
Jim Crow imposaient toujours la ségrégation raciale dans le Sud des États-Unis. Son père était diplômé de St
Augustine’s College, une institution réservée aux Noirs Américains située à Raleigh en Caroline du Nord. Il
fut brièvement professeur d’histoire dans l’enseignement secondaire mais, estimant son salaire insuffisant, il
quitta son emploi de professeur pour acquérir une station service dans le quartier noir de Birmingham. Sa
mère, qui mena aussi ses études jusqu’au supérieur, était professeur dans le primaire. La famille Davis
occupe dans un premier temps les logements sociaux de Birmingham. En 1948, elle quitte les petites maisons
uniformes en briques rouges qui composent le logement social de la ville pour une vaste maison en bois2,
dans un quartier qu’elle est la première famille noire à occuper3. Rapidement après son arrivée, elle est suivie
par de nombreuses autres familles noires. Cette mixité nouvelle exacerbe les tensions raciales. En 1949 a lieu
le premier attentat contre une des maisons nouvellement construites par des Noirs. Il est le premier d’une
longue série qui donne au quartier son surnom de « Dynamite Hill »4.
Durant sa jeunesse, Davis est profondément marquée par son expérience du racisme, des humiliations de la
ségrégation raciale et du climat de violence qui règne dans son environnement quotidien5. Cette expérience
s’accompagne des premiers éléments de socialisation politique. La famille d’Angela y joue un rôle important.
Ses deux parents possèdent une expérience militante : au lycée, sa mère a participé à des mouvements
antiracistes, militant notamment pour la libération des Scottsboro Boys4. Ses deux parents sont par ailleurs
membres de la National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP). Sa grand-mère
maternelle, née quelques années après la Proclamation d'émancipation, lui parle de l’esclavage qu’avait
connu ses propres parents6. Ses premières vacances à New York, où elle goûte aux joies d’une vie non
ségréguée dans la famille de son amie Margaret Burnham, sa future avocate, avive encore sa conscience des
humiliations quotidiennes qu’impose la ségrégation7. Plusieurs nouveaux épisodes viendront lors de ses
visites ultérieures- entre six et dix ans, elle passe la plus grande partie de ses étés à New York-, réviser son
jugement sur la situation idéale des Noirs dans le Nord8.
Elle fréquente l’école primaire de Birmingham réservée aux Noirs. Abritée dans des bâtiments vétustes, elle
est moins bien dotée financièrement que l’école réservée aux Blancs9. Davis note toutefois que la ségrégation
avait aussi pour effet de laisser aux enseignants noirs une marge de liberté qui leur permettait d’orienter le
contenu de leur enseignement dans un sens qui favorisait l’émergence d’une identité spécifiquement noire.
Outre The Star Spangled Banner, l’hymne national américain, les enfants apprenaient et chantaient en classe
l’Hymne national noir de James Weldon Johnson. Ils se voyaient enseigner la vie des personnages
historiques noirs qui avaient marqué la vie du pays comme Frederick Douglass, Sojourner Truth ou Harriet
Tubman10. Le modèle de réussite qui était proposé aux enfants noirs par les enseignants s’appuyait néanmoins
selon elle sur une morale de la réussite individuelle qui masquait la dimension collective de la lutte qu’elle
pensait devoir être mise en œuvre pour renverser le système raciste et libérer les Noirs de leur oppression11.
À quatorze ans, alors qu’elle se dit ennuyée par « le provincialisme de Birmingham »12, elle doit choisir son
orientation pour le lycée. Deux opportunités s’offrent à elle : elle est acceptée dans l’école préparatoire de
l'Université Fisk de Nashville, une des institutions réservées aux Noirs les plus prestigieuses du pays, et au
sein d’un programme expérimental de l’organisation quaker American Friends Service Committee qui place
des étudiants noirs du Sud dans des écoles mixtes du Nord12. Intégrer l’Université Fisk lui ouvrirait la voie
des études médicales auxquelles elle se destine alors pour devenir pédiatre. La seconde option lui permettrait
de rejoindre le lycée Elisabeth-Irwin, une école privée de Greenwich Village (New York) défendant les
principes de l’éducation nouvelle. Après de longues hésitations, elle finit par choisir New York.
Les années new-yorkaises[modifier]
Son arrivée à New York marque une nouvelle étape dans sa socialisation politique. Elle est logée chez le
révérend William Howard Melish. Pasteur de la plus grande église épiscopale de Brooklyn dans les années
1950, il avait perdu ses fonctions au terme d'un long bras de fer avec sa hiérarchie à cause de ses prises de
position contre le maccarthisme et son affiliation à la Soviet-American Friendship Organization
(Organisation de l’amitié américano-soviétique)13. Le corps enseignant du lycée Elisabeth Irwin que Davis a
rejoint est dans sa grande majorité interdit d’enseignement dans le secteur public à cause de son
positionnement politique marqué à gauche14. C’est dans ce nouvel environnement qu’elle entend pour la
première fois parler du socialisme, s’avouant notamment fascinée par les expériences utopiques, comme celle
de Robert Owen5. Elle lit le Manifeste communiste qui la conduit « à replacer les problèmes du peuple Noir
dans le contexte plus large d’un mouvement de la classe ouvrière »5.
Elle est introduite au sein d’une organisation de jeunesse marxiste-léniniste nommée Advance. C’est sa
première expérience du militantisme. Elle y côtoie des amies de longues dates comme Margaret Burnham ou
Mary Lou Patterson mais rencontre aussi à cette occasion Bettina Aptheker, la fille de l’historien communiste
Herbert Aptheker dont le domicile accueille la plupart des réunions du groupe15. Elle participe aux
manifestations de soutien au mouvement des droits civiques qui connaît un nouvel élan avec la campagne de
sit-in initiée le 1er février 1960 à Greensboro (Caroline du Nord). Davis a cependant le sentiment d’avoir
quitté le Sud au moment où le mouvement prenait véritablement de l’ampleur et en éprouve une vive
frustration. Elle se range néanmoins à l’avis de ses parents qui lui enjoignent de finir son année scolaire à
New York15.
Études supérieures[modifier]
En 1962, elle obtient une bourse pour étudier à l’université de Brandeis dans le Massachusetts. Elle est l’une
des trois étudiantes noires de première année16. Davis décrit cette première année comme une année
d’isolement qu’elle « cultive de façon quelque peu romantique »16, se plongeant notamment dans les œuvres
des existentialistes français (Jean-Paul Sartre, Albert Camus...). Son année universitaire est marquée par une
série de conférences de l'écrivain James Baldwin sur la littérature qui est interrompue par la crise des missiles
de Cuba ; Baldwin refuse de poursuivre son exposé mais s’exprime sur le conflit lors d’une assemblée
générale, aux côtés du philosophe Herbert Marcuse que Davis entend pour la première fois17. Elle occupe
divers emplois pour financer un voyage en Finlande où se déroule le Festival mondial de la jeunesse et des
étudiants18. Elle s’arrête à Londres et passe quelques jours à Paris et à Lausanne. À Helsinki, elle se montre
particulièrement impressionnée par l’énergie dégagée par la représentation que donne la délégation cubaine19.
Lors de sa deuxième année à Brandeis, elle étudie la littérature et la philosophie française contemporaine ;
Sartre en particulier continue de susciter son intérêt. Elle voit Malcolm X haranguer un amphithéâtre
composé quasi exclusivement d’étudiants blancs, en leur annonçant la prochaine punition divine de leurs
pêchés envers les Noirs20.
À l'issue de son cursus, Davis obtient une prolongation de sa bourse pour suivre le programme français de
troisième année du Hamilton College. En septembre 1963, elle passe ainsi un mois à Biarritz21. C’est dans la
station balnéaire française qu’elle apprend l’attentat qui a frappé l’église baptiste de sa ville natale de
Birmingham où quatre jeunes filles sont tuées. Trois étaient de proches connaissances. Refusant d’y voir le
résultat d’un comportement extrémiste isolé, elle analyse « cet événement violent et spectaculaire » comme
l’expression paroxystique de « la routine quotidienne, souvent monotone, de l’oppression raciste »22. Elle
passe novembre à Paris, puis l’été à Francfort où elle assiste à des conférences de Theodor W. Adorno. Sa
formation intellectuelle se poursuit : elle lit Marcuse et de retour à Brandeis se rapproche du philosophe après
avoir assisté à sa série de conférences sur la pensée politique européenne depuis la Révolution française23. Sur
ses conseils, elle décide de partir étudier la philosophie à Francfort. Elle quitte les États-Unis en 1965, au
milieu des émeutes de Watts.
En Allemagne, elle côtoie des étudiants allemands membres de l’Union socialiste allemande des étudiants,
participe à des manifestations contre l'intervention militaire américaine au Viêt Nam ou contre la projection
du film documentaire italien pro-colonisation Africa Addio et visite régulièrement Berlin-Est24.
Pendant son séjour en Allemagne, le mouvement de libération des Noirs connaît de profondes évolutions et
tend à se radicaliser dans le sillage du slogan Black Power. Frustrée de ne pouvoir participer à
l’effervescence militante qui semble régner dans son pays, elle décide de rentrer aux États-Unis à l’issue de
sa deuxième année en Allemagne. Marcuse, désormais en poste à l’Université de San Diego, accepte de
reprendre la direction de sa thèse, initialement tenue par Adorno25.
Positionnement politique[modifier]
Erich Honecker avec Angela Davis en 1972
À son arrivée à San Diego, elle est privée de tout contact au sein du mouvement noir californien et adhère en
désespoir de cause à l’organisation radicale des étudiants du campus dont l’action se tourne principalement
vers la lutte contre la guerre du Viêt Nam26. Elle subit à cette occasion sa première arrestation suite à une
distribution de tracts27. Souhaitant s’impliquer dans une action spécifique à destination des Noirs, elle
travaille à organiser un conseil des étudiants noirs de l’université de San Diego, jusqu’alors inexistant. Sa
première action est de participer à un comité de soutien à Ed Lynn, un soldat qui avait lancé une pétition
contre la discrimination raciale dans l’armée28.
Son implication militante lui révèle la profonde désunion du mouvement de libération des Noirs et les très
fortes rivalités qui le traversent. Elle-même occupe une position très minoritaire au sein du mouvement.
Sur le plan des objectifs, elle s’oppose au séparatisme de certaines des organisations du Black Nationalism
qui pensent que la libération du peuple noir doit passer par une séparation de la société blanche et la
fondation d’une Nation Noire sur le sol américain ou africain. Sur le plan des moyens, elle refuse la méthode
consistant à exacerber les antagonismes entre Noirs et Blancs dans le but de provoquer des soulèvements
spontanés similaires à ceux de Watts ou de Détroit dans lesquels certaines organisations voyaient les
prémices d’un soulèvement généralisé du peuple afro-américain29.
Elle n’en refuse pas moins l’intégrationnisme qui fut la position de Martin Luther King. Le marxisme
constitue un des éléments centraux de son positionnement : elle pense que la lutte de libération des Noirs doit
s’insérer dans le mouvement révolutionnaire dont le socialisme constitue l’horizon30. Or le marxisme est
rejeté par une grande partie des organisations nationalistes qui le désigne, à l’image de Stokely Carmichael,
le leader du Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (SNCC), comme étant « la chose de l’homme blanc
»31. Les Blancs ont d’ailleurs été écartés des leviers de commande du SNCC à partir du printemps 1966. Pour
les nationalistes, les Noirs ne doivent compter que sur leurs propres valeurs, leurs propres analyses et leurs
propres forces pour se libérer.
Si Davis affiche son marxisme, elle hésite plus longuement avant de s’affilier au mouvement communiste.
Elle met cette réticence initiale sur le compte de son parcours militant. En Allemagne notamment, elle s’est
imprégnée d’un discours libertaire très critique à l’égard du communisme soviétique. Elle finit par adhérer en
1968 au Che-Lumumba Club, une section du parti communiste américain réservée aux Noirs. Elle rejoindra
aussi le Black Panther Party dont la position révolutionnaire se caractérise par un égal refus de
l’intégrationnisme et du séparatisme.
Une autre composante de son identité militante est son féminisme. Ce dernier est en partie nourri par son
parcours militant au cours duquel elle se heurte au sexisme d’une partie du mouvement nationaliste noir voire
d’une partie des organisations auxquelles elle appartient. On lui reproche notamment le rôle de leader qu’elle
est amenée à assumer au sein du mouvement. Pour l’organisation United Slaves de Ron Karenga ou le poète
Amiri Baraka (alors nommé Leroi Jones), le leadership masculin est un moyen pour les hommes noirs de
regagner leur dignité face aux Blancs. La place des femmes au sein du mouvement ne peut être par
conséquent que subordonnée à celle des hommes : les tâches domestiques et l’inspiration des leaders
masculins sont les rôles qui leur sont dévolus. Davis estime au contraire qu’un authentique mouvement de
libération doit lutter contre toutes les formes de domination : l’homme noir ne peut se libérer s’il continue
d’asservir sa femme et sa mère32.
Le procès[modifier]
Son adhésion au parti communiste américain et au mouvement des Black Panthers lui vaut d'être surveillée
par le FBI. Elle enseigne en 1969 à l'UCLA - l'université de Californie à Los Angeles - mais en est renvoyée
à cause de son activisme politique. Elle s'investit dans le comité de soutien aux Frères de Soledad, trois
prisonniers noirs américains accusés d'avoir assassiné un gardien en représailles de l'assassinat d'un de leur
codétenu. Elle est accusée d'avoir organisé une prise d'otages dans un tribunal dont l'issue a été meurtrière :
Jonathan Jackson, le jeune frère de George Jackson, le juge et deux autres prisonniers sont tués après que la
police a ouvert le feu sur leur véhicule. Commence alors une cavale à travers les États-Unis : elle apparaît sur
la liste des femmes les plus recherchées par le FBI. Ce dernier, dirigé par J. Edgar Hoover, lutte dans le cadre
du programme COINTELPRO contre les Black Panthers et les communistes dans un contexte de guerre
froide et de guerre au Viêt Nam . Après deux semaines de cavale, elle est arrêtée dans un hôtel, puis
emprisonnée pendant seize mois à New York puis en Californie, à San Marin puis à San José, avant d'être
jugée et acquittée33. À New York, elle est d'abord placée dans une cellule d’isolement aménagée spécialement
pour elle au sixième étage de la prison34. Elle entame une grève de la faim pour exiger son placement avec les
autres détenues35 et, au dixième jour de grève, une décision du tribunal fédéral enjoint aux autorités
pénitentiaires de suspendre son isolement, jugeant injustifié un régime exceptionnel motivé par les opinions
politiques d’un détenu36. Le 5 janvier 1971, elle est officiellement inculpée par l’État de Californie de
meurtre, kidnapping et conspiration. Transférée en Californie, elle comparaît avec Ruchell Magee, le seul
survivant de la fusillade37.
Son affaire connaît un retentissement international. En France, Jean-Paul Sartre, Gerty Archimède, Pierre
Perret et des milliers de manifestants la soutiennent.
Dès sa sortie de prison en 1972, Angela Davis se met à publier. Ses essais autant que ses discours véhéments
en font l'une des intellectuelles radicales les plus connues de l'époque : la paix au Vietnam, l'antiracisme, le
féminisme constituent son credo.
En 1980 et en 1984, Angela Davis se présente aux élections présidentielles américaines comme viceprésidente du candidat communiste Gus Hall.
Angela Davis : rebelle à la politique de son propre pays38, enseigne aujourd'hui l'Histoire de la Prise de
conscience dans une université californienne.
De nos jours, Angela Davis est professeur d'histoire de la conscience à l'Université de Californie (campus de
Santa Cruz). Elle fait campagne contre la guerre en Irak. Elle a reçu le Prix Thomas Merton en 2006. Angela
Davis rejoint le « Comité international de soutien aux victimes vietnamiennes de l'agent orange et au procès
de New York » (CIS) conduit par André Bouny. Elle lutte contre l'industrie carcérale et la peine de mort aux
États-Unis et dans le monde.
Hommages[modifier]
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The Rolling Stones a publié en 1972 une chanson de soutien à Angela Davis, Sweet Black Angel, sur
l'album Exile on Main Street.
John Lennon et Yoko Ono ont soutenu Angela Davis dans une chanson intitulée Angela.
Pierre Perret dans la chanson Lily en 1977 : « Mais dans un meeting à Memphis, Lily / Elle a vu
Angela Davis, Lily / Qui lui dit viens ma petite sœur / En s'unissant on a moins peur / Des loups qui
guettent le trappeur ».
Daniel Balavoine dans la chanson Petite Angèle sur l'album Sauver l'amour (1985).
Juliette Noureddine la cite parmi ses modèles dans sa chanson Rimes féminines (1996).
Yannick Noah rend hommage à Angela Davis en 2010 avec sa chanson intitulée Angela.
Angela Davis est le sujet d'œuvres graphiques de Shepard Fairey (Obey Giant)39.
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Winston Mc Anuff dans la chanson Angla Davis de l'album A Bang joué avec la Bazbaz Orchestra.
Ouvrages[modifier]
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If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance (1971)
Frameup: The Opening Defense Statement Made (1972)
Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974)
Women, Race and Class (1981)
Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism (1985) I
Women, Culture and Politics (1989) I
Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude Ma Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1999)
The Angela Y. Davis Reader (1999)
Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003)
Les Goulags de la démocratie (2006)
Traduits en français
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Femmes, race et classe, trad. Dominique Taffin-Jouhaud et le collectif des femmes, 2e éd., Paris, Des
femmes; Antoinette Fouque, DL 2007 (ISBN 978-2-7210-0552-6)
Les goulags de la démocratie: réflexions et entretiens, entretiens recueillis par Eduardo Mendieta,
trad. Louis de Bellefeuille, Vauvert, Au diable vauvert, 2006, 156 p. (ISBN 2-84626-115-6)
"Angela Davis, Autobiographie", trad. Cathy Bernheim, ed. Albin Michel, (1975)
Bibliographie[modifier]
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Angela Davis parle, Angela Davis, Paris, Éditions sociales, 1971, 95 p.
S’ils frappent à la porte à l’aube, Angela Davis, Aptheker Bettina, Paris, Gallimard, 1972, 322 p.
Autobiographie, Angela Davis, Paris, Albin Michel, 1975, 344 p.
Les Goulags de la démocratie, Angela Davis, Réflexions et entretiens, Au Diable Vauvert, 2007
Filmographie[modifier]
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Angela Davis : Portrait d’une révolutionnaire, Du Luart Yolande, France, 1971, 90 min.
Notes et références[modifier]
1. ↑ C'est ainsi qu'elle se désignait elle-même dans un entretien avec Annette Levy-Willard, « Je m'identifie à l'"autre
Amérique" », dans Libération du 14/10/2006, [lire en ligne [archive]]
2. ↑ Angela Davis, Autobiographie, Albin Michel, Paris, 1975, p. 79.
3. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 80.
4. ↑ a et b Davis (1975), p. 81.
5. ↑ a, b et c Davis (1975), p. 107.
6. ↑ Davis (1975), p .83.
7. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 84
8. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 85.
9. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 90.
10. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 91.
11. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 92.
12. ↑ a et b Davis (1975), p. 102.
13. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 105. Voir aussi sur ce point les archives Melish [archive] .
14. ↑ Davis (1975), p.106.
15. ↑ a et b Davis (1975), p. 109.
16. ↑ a et b Davis (1975), p. 114.
17. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 115.
18. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 116.
19. ↑ Davis (1975), p .118.
20. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 121.
21. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 122.
22. ↑ Davis (1975), p 124.
23. ↑ Davis (1975), p.127.
24. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 132.
25. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 135- 137.
26. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 144.
27. ↑ Davis (1975), p 146.
28. ↑ Daivs (1975), p. 148.
29. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 150.
30. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 142.
31. ↑ Davis, (1975), p. 142.
32. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 323.
33. ↑ Nicole Bacharan, Histoire des noirs américains au XXe siècle, Paris : Édition Complexe, 1994, p. 230
34. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 49.
35. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 50.
36. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 54
37. ↑ Davis (1975), p. 256.
38. ↑ elle a figuré parmi la (en)liste des « félons » recherchés par le FBI et atteint le rang de dissidente lors de son exil
après sa détention .
39. ↑ http://www.thegiant.org/wiki/index.php/Angela_Davis_Small [archive]
Voir aussi[modifier]
Sur les autres projets Wikimedia :
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« Angela Davis », sur Wikimedia Commons (ressources multimédia)
Articles connexes[modifier]
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Black feminism
Parti communiste des États-Unis d'Amérique
Oppositions à la politique étrangère des États-Unis
Liens externes[modifier]
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Biographie
Vidéo: Angela Davis en 1975, elle revient sur son engagement en faveur de l'émancipation des Noirs
et des femmes, une archive de la Télévision suisse romande
Annette Levy-Willard, Je m'identifie à l'« autre Amérique », dans Libération du 14 octobre 2006,
[lire en ligne]
Angela Davis, 1er extraits sonores de prises de paroles
Angela Davis, 2e extraits sonores de prises de paroles
Précédé par
Angela Davis
Suivi par
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Candidat du Parti Communiste
à la vice-présidence des ÉtatsUnis
Soledad Brothers
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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For the blues-rock trio, see Soledad Brothers (band).
The Soledad Brothers were three African American inmates charged with the murder of white prison guard
John V. Mills at California's Soledad Prison on January 16, 1970.[1] George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo and
John Clutchette were said to have murdered Mills in retaliation for the shooting deaths of three black
prisoners during a prison fight in the exercise yard three days prior by another guard, Opie G. Miller.
Contents
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1 Soledad Prison
2 Soledad Brothers Defense Committee
3 Jonathan Jackson's attempt to free the Soledad Brothers
4 San Quentin Six
5 Trial
6 Notes
7 References
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8 Further reading
[edit] Soledad Prison
On January 13, 1970, 14 black inmates and 2 white inmates from the maximum security section of Soledad
Prison were released into a recreation yard for the first time in several months.[2][3] The black prisoners were
ordered to the far end of the yard, while the white prisoners remained near the center of the yard.[3] Officer
Opie G. Miller, an expert marksman armed with a rifle, watched over the inmates from a guard tower thirteen
feet above the yard.[3] A fist fight ensued and with no warning shot, Miller opened fire on the prisoners
below.[3] Three black inmates were killed in the shooting: W.L. Nolen and Cleveland Edwards died in the
yard, while Alvin Miller died in the prison hospital a few hours later.[3] White inmate Billy D. Harris was
wounded in the groin by Miller's fourth shot, and ended up losing a testicle.[3]
Following the incident, thirteen black prisoners began a hunger strike in the hopes of securing an
investigation.[4] On January 16, 1970, a Monterey County grand jury convened, then exonerated Miller in the
deaths of Nolen, Edwards, and Miller with a ruling of "justifiable homicide".[3] No black inmates were
permitted to testify, including those who had been in the recreation yard during the shooting.[3] In Soledad
Prison, inmates heard the grand jury's ruling on the prison radio.[3] Thirty-minutes later, John V. Mills was
found dying in another maximum security wing of the prison after having been beaten and thrown from a
third-floor tier to the television room below.[3]
On February 14, 1970, after an investigation into Mills' death by prison officials, George Lester Jackson,
Fleeta Drumgo and John W. Clutchette were indicted by the Monterey County grand jury for first degree
murder.[3]
[edit] Soledad Brothers Defense Committee
The Soledad Brothers Defense Committee was formed by Fay Stender to assist in publicizing the case and
raising funds to defend Jackson, Drumgo, and Clutchette. Among the wide variety of celebrities, writers, and
political activists that supported the SBDC and their cause were Julian Bond, Kay Boyle, Marlon Brando,
Jane Fonda, Noam Chomsky, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Allen Ginsburg, Tom Hayden, William Kunstler,
Jessica Mitford, Linus Pauling, Pete Seeger, Benjamin Spock, and Angela Davis.[5][6][7] In June 1970,
California State Senator Mervyn Dymally and the California Legislative Black Caucus pursed an
investigation of Soledad Prison and released a report that helped legitimize the Committee.[8] By the middle
of that month, Davis was leading the movement.[8]
[edit] Jonathan Jackson's attempt to free the Soledad Brothers
Main article: Marin County courthouse incident
On August 7, 1970, George Jackson's seventeen year old brother Jonathan Jackson held up a courtroom at the
Marin County Civic Center, temporarily freed three San Quentin prisoners, and took Superior Court Judge
Harold Haley, Deputy District Attorney Gary Thomas, and three female jurors hostage in a bid to secure the
freedom of the "Soledad Brothers." Jackson, Haley, and prisoners William Christmas and James McClain
were killed as they attempted to drive away from the courthouse. Haley died due to the discharge of a sawedoff shotgun which had been fastened to his neck with adhesive tape by the abductors. Thomas, prisoner
Ruchell Magee, and one of the jurors were wounded.[9]
Angela Davis, who purchased the guns used in the escape attempt, was later tried and acquitted of charges in
connection with the escape.
[edit] San Quentin Six
Main article: San Quentin Six
On August 21, 1971, days before his trial in the guard's killing, the 29-year-old Jackson launched an uprising
at San Quentin with a 9 mm pistol. Gun in hand, he released an entire floor of prisoners from the maximumsecurity wing, crying, "This is it, gentlemen, the Dragon has come!" In the ensuing melee, three guards were
killed, as were two prisoners suspected of being snitches, before George Jackson was killed by a guard.
[edit] Trial
In San Francisco, proceedings were held in the Department 21 courtroom on the third floor of the Hall of
Justice, the same courtroom in which Ruchell Magee would later be tried on charges related to the murder of
Judge Haley.[10][11] Spectators, including the press, were separated from the proceedings by a $15,000 floorto-ceiling barrier constructed of metal, wood, and bullet-proof glass.[10][nb 1] On March 27, 1972, the two
surviving Soldedad Brothers—Clutchette and Drumgo—were acquitted by a San Francisco jury of the
original charges of murdering a prison guard.[12]
[edit] Notes
1. ^ The barrier was also reported to be soundproof, thereby requiring a public address system so that spectators
could hear the proceedings.[10]
[edit] References
1.
^ "Prison Guard Is Beaten to Death". Beaver County Times. January 17, 1970.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=8bAiAAAAIBAJ&sjid=M7MFAAAAIBAJ&pg=3630,3871188&dq.
2.
^ Hatfield, Lary (January 7, 1985). "Last vestiges of radical movement will go on trial in Bingham
case". The Day (New London, Connecticut: The Day Publishing Company): pp. 1, 4.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?id=RDlSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=RzYNAAAAIBAJ&pg=4907%2C1089678.
Retrieved July 15, 2011.
3.
^ a b c d e f g h i j k Aptheker, Bettina (1969). The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis. Cornell
University Press. ISBN 0801485975. http://books.google.com/books?id=yA9vwr6g8cMC.
4.
^ "Negro Prisoners Begin Hunger Strike in Bid for Investigation". The Bulletin. January 15, 1970.
http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=zKQSAAAAIBAJ&sjid=HPcDAAAAIBAJ&pg=1453,3541718&dq=miller+guard&hl=en.
5.
^ Andrews, Lori (1999) [1996] Black Power, White Blood: The Life and Times of Johnny Spain
Philadelphia: Temple University Press p. 130 ISBN 1566397502, 9781566397506
http://books.google.com/books?
id=UKmKSuzduK8C&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
6.
^ Bernstein, Lee (2010) "The Age of Jackson: George Jackson and the Radical Critique of
Incarceration" America is the Prison: Arts and Politics in Prison in the 1970s Chapel Hill, North Carolina:
University of North Carolina Press p. 54 ISBN 0807871176, 9780807871171 http://books.google.com/books?
id=a3yRlKxxDtkC&lpg=PP1&pg=PA51#v=onepage&q&f=false. Retrieved July 12, 2011
7.
^ Scott, Austin (October 18, 1970). "New Rebellion Brewing Inside Nation's Prisons". The Tuscaloosa
News. AP (Tuscaloosa, Alabama). http://news.google.com/newspapers?
id=oCgeAAAAIBAJ&sjid=NbkEAAAAIBAJ&pg=7115%2C3538937. Retrieved July 13, 2011.
8.
^ a b http://books.google.com/books?
id=yA9vwr6g8cMC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_atb#v=onepage&q&f=false
9.
^ "Justice: A Bad Week for the Good Guys". TIME. August 1970.
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,909547-1,00.html. Retrieved 2008-06-04.
10.
^ a b c Streeter, Harold V. (August 29, 1971). "'Soledad Brothers' Conflict Incites 11 Violent Deaths"
(pdf). San Francisco Examiner (San Francisco, California). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White
%20%20Files/San%20Quentin/San%20Quentin%20097.pdf. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
11.
^ Streeter, Harold V. (August 18, 1972). "Magee Trial - Dullsville Revisited" (pdf). San Francisco
Examiner (San Francisco, California). http://jfk.hood.edu/Collection/White%20%20Files/San%20Quentin/San
%20Quentin%20748.pdf. Retrieved July 21, 2010.
12.
^ "Acquit Soledad Brothers", Pacific Stars and Stripes, March 29, 1972, p1
[edit] Further reading
Soledad Brother: The Prison Letters of George Jackson (1970) ISBN 1-55652-230-4
Min S Yee. The Melancholy History of Soledad Prison; In Which a Utopian Scheme Turns Bedlam
(1973) ISBN 0-06-129800-X
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