Davis has been active as a student, teacher, writer, scholar and organizer forthree decades. She came to national attention in 1969 after being removed fromher teaching position in the philosophy department at UCLA because of hersocial activism and her membership in the Communist Party. In 1970, she wasplaced on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List and was the subject of an intensepolice search that drove her underground and culminated in one of the mostfamous trials in recent U.S. history. During her 16-month incarceration, amassive international "Free Angela Davis" campaign was organized, which led toher acquittal in 1972. Harnessing the momentum of that campaign, Davis and hercolleagues co-founded the National Alliance Against Racism and PoliticalRepression, which continues its work today.
Over the last 25 years, Davis has lectured in all 50 states, as well as inAfrica, Europe, the Caribbean and the former Soviet Union. Her articles andessays have appeared in numerous journals, and she has written five books,including Angela Davis: An Autobiography and Women, Race &Class. Her writings represent pioneering contributions to feministscholarship. As a recently elected member of the board of directors of theNational Black Women's Health Project, she continues to be on the cutting edgeas an activist and organizer.
An advocate of penal reform and a staunch opponent of racism in the criminaljustice system, Davis recently conducted a series of interviews withincarcerated women for a research project that ultimately seeks to developideas for new, progressive legislation
around the penal system. Her next book will focus on race, criminalization and the differential treatment of women in the criminal justice system.
Currently, Davis is the first African-American to hold a full tenuredprofessorship in the History of Consciousness program at the University ofCalifornia at Santa Cruz. She also recently received the distinguished honorof an appointment to the University of California Presidential Chair inAfrican-American and Feminist Studies.
Other events during Womyn's Energy Week will include a display of theClothesline Project, which bears witness to sexual and domestic violenceagainst women, a "Take Back the Night" rally and open mike session, and a paneldiscussion on women and work.
