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Angela Davis
Scholar, author & prison-abolition activist
The radical thinker who turned a life on trial into a lifetime challenging prisons and power.
The rise
A philosophy professor shaped by the Black Power and communist movements, Davis became a global cause célèbre when she was jailed and tried in a 1970 case, then acquitted.
What they did
She became a leading scholar and activist on race, gender and mass incarceration, co-founded Critical Resistance, and helped popularize the prison-abolition movement through decades of writing and teaching.
The full picture
Her Communist Party ties and revolutionary rhetoric made her a polarizing figure, celebrated on the left and condemned on the right.
Why it matters
Davis linked the Black freedom struggle to global questions of prisons, capitalism and gender, shaping today's debates on justice reform.
“I am no longer accepting the things I cannot change. I am changing the things I cannot accept.”