Angela Davis
Angela Davis. Photo Via. https://www.history.com/topics/black-history/angela-davis#section_1. Accessed on December 14, 2021.
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Angela Davis Wanted Poster. Photo Via https://caamuseum.org/learn/600state/black-history/blackistory-on-june-4-1972-angela-yvonne-davis-is-acquitted-of-conspiracy-kidnapping-and-murder-in-the-death-of-marin-county-judge-harold-haley. Accessed December 14, 2021
Angela Davis is an activist and iconic female figure in history. She encountered the gruesome and unfair treatment of the U.S. prison system. Davis spent more than a year in jail, and her experiences within jail made her realize the prison system serves as a form of modern-day slavery. Slavery still exists today, and the prison system serves as a coverup to facilitate gruesome and patronizing treatment. She explores the slave tendencies of the prison system in her book The Meaning of Freedom. As a society, we must recognize the injustices within the prison system and the systematic slavery that occurs alongside it. Davis captivates modern-day slavery in one very chilling and moving statement. She says, “The institution of prison tells us that the nightmare of slavery continues to haunt us” (Davis, 2012, p. 138). While it is easy to find comfort in the 13th amendment abolishing slavery, Davis reminds us slavery still exists today through modern day incarceration. As long as the injustices of the prison system continue, slavery will continue to prevail.
Davis, Angela Y. 2012. “The Meaning of Freedom.” In The Meaning of Freedom, 135-151. San Francisco, CA: City Lights Books.
Angela Davis’s connection and ties to the prison system began stemming from good intentions in helping support The Soledad Brother Defense Committee. The Soledad Brothers refer to three black inmates who were accused and charged for the murder of a white prison guard. Davis became tied to The Soledad Brothers when a gun she purchased from a pawn shop was used in a courtroom shooting involving one of the Soledad Brothers. Angela Davis had already faced the brutality of the justice system and feared what would happen to her. In response, Davis decided to go into hiding out of such deep-rooted fear of the government. In doing so she became a target on the FBI’s “Most 10 Wanted List.” Davis was eventually found and arrested in New York City. She was incarcerated for 18 months and spent time in and out of solitary confinement. It was during Davis’s time within the walls of the prison system that she realized slavery still exists.
New York Historical Society Museum & Library . (2021, June 25). Life story: Angela Davis. Women & the American Story. Retrieved December 15, 2021, from https://wams.nyhistory.org/growth-and-turmoil/feminism-and-the-backlash/angela-davis/
Angela Davis's The Meaning of Freedom. Photo Via https://www.akpress.org/themeaningoffreedom.html. Accessed December 14, 2021.