“The system tried to put her on trial and she said no I’m going put you on trial”

Angela Yvonne Davis (born January a26, 1944) is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is the author of over ten books on class, feminism, race, and the US prison system.

I came across Angela in the 90s whilst at university and apart from knowing her for her distinctive afro, I didn’t know anything more about her until now. Angela re-surfaced whist I was researching childless women for my #BlackNomoRoleModels and I am so glad I’ve now taken the time to start getting to know who she is and what she stands for. Here’s what I learnt so far…

Angela was born and grew up in Birmingham Alabama. Her neighbourhood was nicknamed “Dynamite Hill” for the number of homes targeted by the Ku Klux Klan which meant that Angela grew up witnessing violence against black people and racial prejudice from a young age. Influenced by her segregated upbringing Angela joined the Black Panthers and an all-Black branch of the Communist Party as a young woman. In 1991, she joined the feminist studies department at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she became department director before retiring in 2008. Since then she has continued to write and remained active in movements. Davis has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed as the 1971 “Woman of the Year” in Time magazine’s “100 Women of the Year” edition, which covered the 100 years that began with women’s suffrage in 1920. Davis is included in Time‘s 100 Most Influential People of 2020. Her siblings include two brothers, Ben and Reginald, and a sister, Fania.

Ok stop the press, her middle name is Yvonne and her brother is called Reginald, which my dad’s name and my brothers middle name, she’s an activist and author (although I have some caching up to do) – you know that I am embodying her spirit!!! I heard a quote from a clip advertising a Netflix film about her, Dr. Angela Davis puts the system on trial’, where it was said that “The system tried to put her on trial and she said no I’m going put you on trial…” now doesn’t that just sounds like me too???

Thank you for joining me in celebrating Angela Yvonne Davis, a woman who is childless, who is not afraid to speak her truth and who fights to change the things that she cannot accept. I embody her ancestral (activist) spirit.

#BlackNomoRoleModels  #BlackHistoryMonth