Since the 1960s, Angela Davis has been a prominent figure in black liberation movements. She has focused specifically on the intersectional oppression certain sectors of society face under the white heteronormative patriarchy we continue to exist under. Her 1981 book ‘Women, Race & Class’ highlights how black women have been marginalised in history between the black emancipation and suffrage and women’s suffrage movements. Davis has remained a hugely eminent presence when considering current socio-political environments, being included on the Time’s 100 Most Influential People list 2020. This demonstrates that her initial ideas and grievances are as relevant now as when they were first written.
In her early life, Davis grew up in Alabama during the Jim Crow laws, regularly facing systemic oppression and violence, radicalising her, and leading her to question the position of black women in America. This anger and sense of injustice at both the treatment of her race and gender, and that of those around her, led her to pursue an extensive education, most notably being tutored by Herbert Marcuse, a prominent German philosopher. Her position as professor at UCLA was temporarily removed by Ronald Regan, but she was reinstated, and to this day gives lectures at universities around the world; primarily discussing RGC (race, gender, and class) and the abolition of prisons. The reason for the longevity of her arguments and place within academia is because of the current parallels and lasting effects of the issues Davis faced in the 60s and 70s. Systemic racism, police violence and a lack of consciousness within white feminist groups of the exclusion of black women and women of colour are still with us today.
The fact that the bulk of her critiques and original points of view remain so relevant today is because these issues still exist. The BLM movement shows how black lives are still not seen as equal by the establishment, and especially in the eyes of police. The Me-Too movement and the newly uncovered violence against women show that there is still a hugely misogynistic attitude towards women within workplaces, and again by the police. Systemic action is not being taken, which is what makes Davis’s theories so attractive. Therefore, what makes Davis such a longstanding and crucial figure in the context of black history is her completely revolutionary stance on not only black liberation and equality, but that of women in the movement as well. In the context of her early years of academia, her work on RGC was almost completely novel, being published 8 years before Kimberlé Crenshaw coined the term intersectionality in 1989.
Davis is truly a feminist, one that has pushed back on glass-ceiling feminism and conclusions that outline harmony when diversity is achieved in our system. She recognised that even within such a historic and necessary campaign such as the Civil Rights movement, there were black women being marginalised and forgotten. Her constant dedication to educating and driving young people to act on what is just is wholly inspiring, and we can endeavour to appreciate all she has done.
