The Angela Y. Davis Reader by Angela Y. Davis

Loeb Associate Professor of the Social Sciences in the departments of history and of African and African American studies at Harvard University, and the exhibition committee of the Schlesinger LibraryĬommittee members: Marilyn Dunn, executive director of the Schlesinger Library and librarian of the Radcliffe Institute Paula Aloisio, archivist and metadata specialist Kenvi Phillips, curator for race and ethnicity Meg Rotzel, arts program manager Jehan Sinclair, processing archivist, Harvard University Archives and Jackie Wang, Arleen Carlson and Edna Nelson Graduate Fellow Freed by the People documents a global history, a personal journey, and a quest for a more equitable future.Įxhibition organized by Elizabeth Hinton, John L. Davis, offers new insights into Davis’s journey and promises to catalyze fresh research into the questions she has asked throughout her life. This exhibition, together with the Papers of Angela Y. Radcliffe’s Schlesinger Library on the History of Women in America now houses a trove of archival materials that capture the complex world Davis navigates in the ongoing struggle for freedom. Her work asks courageous and often contentious questions that stem from racial oppression: Is revolution possible? Can women be emancipated? Are prisons necessary? Her life story demonstrates that simply raising challenging questions can precipitate change. Because she sparked worldwide movements that changed the 20th century, Davis was “freed by the people” well before her trial came to an end.ĭecades later, Davis’s influence continues to grow. These allies saw Davis as a political prisoner and a symbol of the struggle for racial justice, the liberation of women, and equality. At the same time, people around the globe rose up to protest in her name. President Nixon labeled Davis a “dangerous terrorist” and a threat to the security of the United States.

Her arrest, incarceration, and trial formed one of the most widely debated legal cases in world history. No single person sits more squarely at the intersection of transnational struggles for freedom than the controversial political activist and pioneering philosopher Angela Yvonne Davis.

The Angela Y. Davis Reader by Angela Y. Davis