Gotham Artists
 
Legendary Human Rights Activist

Angela Davis

Fee Range

$25K - $40K

Travels From

Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA

At a glance:

Angela Davis is internationally known for her ongoing work to combat all forms of oppression in the U.S. and abroad. Her work as an educator has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender equality.

Through her activism and scholarship over the last decades, Angela Davis has been deeply involved in our nation’s quest for social justice. Her work as an educator – both at the university level and in the larger public sphere – has always emphasized the importance of building communities of struggle for economic, racial, and gender justice.

Professor Davis’ teaching career has taken her to San Francisco State University, Mills College, and UC Berkeley. She also has taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges, and Stanford University. She spent the last fifteen years at the University of California, Santa Cruz where she is now Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, and of Feminist Studies.

Angela Davis is the author of nine books and has lectured throughout the United States as well as in Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America. In recent years a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. She draws upon her own experiences in the early seventies as a person who spent eighteen months in jail and on trial, after being placed on the FBI’s “Ten Most Wanted List.” Davis has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender, and imprisonment. Her most recent book is Freedom is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement

Davis is a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of the prison industrial complex. Internationally, she is affiliated with Sisters Inside, an abolitionist organization based in Queensland, Australia that works in solidarity with women in prison.

Like many other educators, Professor Davis is especially concerned with the general tendency to devote more resources and attention to the prison system than to educational institutions. Having helped to popularize the notion of a “prison industrial complex,” she now urges her audiences to think seriously about the future possibility of a world without prisons and to help forge a 21st century abolitionist movement.

  • Cultural and Historical Studies of Race and Ethnicity

  • Feminist Theory

  • Culture and Ideology

  • Democracy and Civil Engagement

Freedom Is a Constant Struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the Foundations of a Movement
Abolition Democracy: Beyond Empire, Prisons, and Torture (Open Media Series)
The Meaning of Freedom: And Other Difficult Dialogues (City Lights Open Media)
Long before 'race/gender' became the obligatory injunction it is now Angela Davis was developing an analytical framework that brought all of these factors into play. For those who only see Angela Davis as a public icon . . . meet the real Angela Davis: perhaps the leading public intellectual of our era.

— Robin D. G. Kelley, Author & Cultural Critic

The crowd was extremely comfortable with Dr. Davis... She was very engaging and incorporated both her personal experiences and anti-oppressive theories. We loved her, she is very humble and very respected and respectful.

— Heather Kere, Ryerson Student Union, Ryerson University

Professor Angela Davis was an absolutely wonderful, fantastic, incredible speaker. She was very humble and open, and everyone who had the opportunity to interact with her only had positive things to say about Ms. Davis.

— University of Chicago

Angela Davis Looks Back on Her Life & Legacy

Famed activist talks about art and community; mass incarceration; and what we talk about when we talk about race. In a wide-ranging conversation, Davis reflected on topics including how music and art can help ... Read more

by The Harvard Gazette

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Black History Month Speakers That Inform, Educate, and Inspire

February is Black History month in the US. How will your organization observe this important month and remember the history of black Americans? Meet a few of our favorite speakers, sure to bring their powerful ... Read more

by Gotham Artists

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