Angela Yvonne Davis is an American political activist, philosopher, academic, scholar, and author. She is a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz. A feminist and a Marxist, Davis was a longtime member of the Communist Party USA (CPUSA) and is a founding member of the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism (CCDS). She is the author of over ten books on class, gender, race, and the US prison system.
Born to an African-American family in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis studied French at Brandeis University and philosophy at the University of Frankfurt in West Germany. Studying under the philosopher Herbert Marcuse, a prominent figure in the Frankfurt School, Davis became increasingly engaged in far-left politics. Returning to the United States, she studied at the University of California, San Diego, before moving to East Germany, where she completed a doctorate at the Humboldt University of Berlin. After returning to the United States, she joined the Communist Party and became involved in numerous causes, including the second-wave feminist movement and the campaign against the Vietnam War. In 1969, she was hired as an acting assistant professor of philosophy at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). UCLA's governing Board of Regents soon fired her due to her Communist Party membership; after a court ruled the firing illegal, the university fired her again, this time for her use of inflammatory language.
In 1970, guns belonging to Davis were used in an armed takeover of a courtroom in Marin County, California, in which four people were killed. Prosecuted for three capital felonies, including conspiracy to murder, she was held in jail for over a year before being acquitted of all charges in 1972. She visited Eastern Bloc countries in the 1970s and, during the 1980s, was twice the Communist Party's candidate for vice president; at the time, she also held the position of professor of ethnic studies at San Francisco State University. Much of her work focused on the abolition of prisons and in 1997, she co-founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison–industrial complex. In 1991, amid the dissolution of the Soviet Union, she was part of a faction in the Communist Party that broke away to establish the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. Also 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 such as Occupy and the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign.
Davis has received various awards, including the Soviet Union's Lenin Peace Prize. Accused of supporting political violence, she has sustained criticism from the highest levels of the US government. She has also been criticized for supporting the Soviet Union and its satellites. 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 selected iconic women over the 100 years since women's suffrage in the United States of America from 1920. In 2020, she was included on Time's list of the 100 most influential people in the world.
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Some of their strengths
Angela Davis has many admirable traits.
Based on spiritual traditions from around the world, they are someone who can be described as Independent, Analytical, Innovative, Strong, Courageous, Confident, and Resilient.
Idealistic and Altruistic
According to Mysticism’s Astrology tradition, Angela Davis is someone who is an idealist and an altruist who possesses an innovative, intellectual, and analytical mind, and who approaches life in an optimistic and easygoing manner. A person who is ambitious and motivated.
Helpful and Supportive
Based on Daoism’s Ba-Zi or ‘Chinese Zodiac’ tradition, people who know Angela Davis well know them as someone who can be accepting, supportive, and productive, like a garden.
Active and Ambitious
According to Hinduism’s Jyotisha or ‘Vedic Astrology’ tradition, many would also describe Angela Davis as someone who is active, ambitious, bold, and courageous.
A person who is driven and organized, is wise with money, who knows how to tell a good story, likes physical activity, and who loves learning.
Courageous and Strong
Based on the Mayan Tzolk’in or ‘Mayan Astrology’ tradition, Angela Davis is someone who is a risk-taker and a pioneer who only gets stronger through the hardships that are encountered in life.
They are also someone who is curious, dynamic, and positive, and who enjoys inspiring and communicating with other people.
Altruistic and Innovative
According to Judaism’s Kabbalah tradition, Angela Davis tends to be someone who sacrifices things for the good of others and wants to do "good" in the world. Who is often thought of as an innovator or rebel who thrives when trying to chase a breakthrough of some sort, who has a clear and sound mind, and who can be charming and sociable.
Some of Angela Davis's challenges
While Angela Davis has many strengths, nobody is perfect. They also have some challenging traits they need to manage.
For example, Angela Davis can be Stubborn, Rebellious, Emotionally Distant, Idle, Impulsive, Aggressive, and Arrogant.
Rebellious and Emotionally Distant
One of Angela Davis's key challenges is that they are someone who can be rebellious and emotionally distant.
Impulsive and Aggressive
Angela Davis is someone who can be impulsive, aggressive, and confrontational, can have difficulty listening to others, be moody and high strung, have conflict with authority figures, be too judgmental of others, and who can be overindulgent and extravagant.
Serious and Callous
Finally, Angela Davis also can be too giving, come across as too "high and mighty", and can have a hard time expressing feelings.
