Angela Davis: women, race and class in the post-Trump era

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis became engaged in far-left politics whilst studying at Brandeis University in the US, and the University of Frankfurt.

Following further studies at the University of California, San Diego and the University of Berlin in East Germany, Davis joined the Communist Party USA on her return to the US, and became involved in the second-wave feminist movement, campaigns against the Vietnam War, and an affiliate of the Black Panther Party.

In the 1980s Davis was twice the Communist Party’s candidate for vice president, before breaking away from the party in 1991 to help establish the Committees of Correspondence for Democracy and Socialism. Co-founder of the organisation, Critical Resistance, her activism has seen her receive several accolades including the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize and induction into the National Women’s Hall of Fame.

Running parallel to Davis political activity is her distinguished career as an academic, which sees her currently appointed Distinguished Professor Emerita of Feminist Studies and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz. Among Davis’ many notable texts are Women, Race, and Class (1980), Women, Culture and Politics (1990) and The Meaning of Freedom (2012).

In January 2017, the day after Donald Trump’s first inauguration as US President, Davis was made honorary co-chair – and appeared as a featured speaker – at the Women’s March on Washington, a protest against misogynistic policy positions of the new President. Just under two months later, she joined us here at the Southbank Centre, appearing in conversation with our then Artistic Director Jude Kelly as part of that year’s WOW – Women of the World festival. The pair discussed women, race and class in the post-Trump era.