Professor Angela Davis speaks for the first time since being detained; plus her first interview with Tony Brown following Prof. Davis' acquittal; and lastly Angela Davis speaks at the University of New England on "Freedom is a Constant Struggle"

Marin County Courthouse Incident 1970

On August 7th, 1970, seventeen year old Jonathan Jackson kidnapped Superior Court Judge Harold Haley from the Marin County Civic Center in San Rafael, California. The kidnapping was meant as a tool to negotiate the freedom of the Soledad Brothers, a trio of African-American inmates (George Jackson, Fleeta Drumgo, and John Clutchette) who were charged with the murder of a prison guard at Soledad Prison in California. George Jackson also happened to be the real brother of Jonathan Jackson.

Jackson, heavily armed, took over the courtroom in Marin County, arming the defendants and taking Judge Haley, the prosecutor, and three female jurors hostage. In a firefight that broke out as they attempted to leave the scene, Judge Haley, the defendants, and Jonathan Jackson were killed. In the ensuing investigation, it was discovered that the shotgun used to kill Judge Haley had been purchased by Angela Davis a few days prior to the event. Furthermore, it was discovered that Davis was in collusion with one of the Soledad Brothers.

Angela Davis is an activist and academic born in 1944 in Birmingham, Alabama. She received her Bachelor’s Degree from Brandeis University, her Masters from the University of California San Diego, and her PhD at Humboldt University in East Berlin. Davis rose to prominence in the 1960’s as a leader of the Communist Party USA with close relationships to the Black Panther Party and considerable involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her involvement with the Communist Party led to her be fired from her job as a professor at the University of California Los Angeles.

After Davis was implicated in the murder of Judge Haley and a warrant was issued for her arrest, she went into hiding. A manhunt began for Davis and FBI director J. Edgar Hoover placed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List, making her the third woman and 309th individual to be placed on that list.


Black Journal Interview with Angela Davis (1972)

Angela Davis makes her first national television appearance in an exclusive interview with Tony Brown, following her recent acquittal of charges of kidnapping, murder and conspiracy after the San Rafael courtroom shootout.


On January 25, 2019 the University of New England hosted a lecture from world-renowned political activist, academic and author Angela Davis as part of its annual Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration. Davis presented “Freedom is a Constant Struggle” .

UNE Director of Intercultural Student Engagement Erica Rousseau, M.A., said that hosting Davis holds special meaning to her. “This is very personal for me,” she explained. “Growing up and learning about heroes like Harriet Tubman and Angela Davis, I knew that black women can change the world, and so I knew that I could too. Bringing Angela Davis to campus is a significant event in my life, and I know that seeing her in person and hearing her speak will be a momentous event in the lives of our students and our community members.”

The event prompted UNE President James Herbert, Ph.D., to contemplate the commitment of the university’s precursor institutions (St. Francis College and Westbrook Seminary) to welcoming Franco-Americans and women, respectively, at times when immigrants and women were often absent in higher education. He noted that Davis’ lecture presents an opportunity to reflect on the university’s historic devotion to inclusion and its dedication to a future of diversity and fairness. “Angela Davis’ visit to UNE reminds us of our remarkable institutional history -- a history of including those who are excluded and championing those who are shunned,” he said. “We are also reminded of our aspirations and what we seek to be – a university that instills in every single one of our students the drive and ability to advocate for equality and justice. It is a great privilege to host such a pivotal figure in the history of American activism.”

Through her activism and scholarship over the last decades, 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.

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 1970s 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’ 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.