Inside Iowa State

Feb. 24, 2006

Angela Davis lecture is Feb. 25 at Stephens

Angela Davis is known for her work to combat all forms of oppression. Her political activism began when she was a youngster in Birmingham, Ala., and continued over the years in her work as a student, teacher, writer, scholar and activist/organizer.

Davis will give a public lecture, "Leadership and Social Responsibility," at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in Stephens Auditorium.

In 1969, she came to national attention when she was removed from her teaching position in the philosophy department at the University of California, Los Angeles, by Gov. Ronald Reagan for her social activism and membership in the Communist Party, USA. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List, charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy, and the subject of an intense police search that drove her underground. She was accused of planning an alleged kidnapping of three San Quentin prisoners from a courthouse and supplying the gun that killed four people during the incident. She was acquitted 18 months later.

Her articles and essays have appeared in numerous journals and anthologies, and she is the author of five books, including Angela Davis: An Autobiography; Women, Race and Class; and The Angela Y. Davis Reader.

She is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies departments at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Since 1994, she has held the University of California Presidential Chair in African American and Feminist Studies.

Davis has a bachelor's degree in French, and master's and doctoral degrees in philosophy.

Angela Davis will give a public lecture, "Leadership and Social Responsibility," at 8 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 25, in Stephens Auditorium.