Davis, Angela (Yvonne)

born Jan. 26, 1944, Birmingham, Ala., U.S.

U.S. political activist.

She was a doctoral candidate at the University of California at San Diego, studying under Herbert Marcuse. Because of her radical political views, her position as lecturer in philosophy at UCLA was not renewed. A champion of the cause of black prisoners, she grew particularly attached to George Jackson, a member of the so-called Soledad Brothers (after Soledad Prison). After an abortive courtroom escape and kidnapping attempt in August 1970 in which four people, including Jackson's brother and the trial judge, were killed, Davis was suspected of involvement, and she became one of the Federal Bureau of Investigation's most-wanted criminals. Arrested in New York City in October, she was acquitted of charges of murder, kidnapping, and conspiracy by an all-white jury. In 1980 she ran unsuccessfully for vice president on the Communist Party ticket. In 1991 Davis became a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz.

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