Activist, social justice advocate and professor emerita Angela Davis will address “Radical Resilience: Thriving in the Face of Oppression” at 5:30 p.m., Wednesday, Feb. 12, in the Popp Martin Student Union, Room 340. Her presentation is free and open to the public; doors open at 4:30 p.m.
“Angela Davis’ legacy of activism, critical thought and analysis and continued discourse around social justice is something all of us should experience as we work to become more social justice oriented,” said Tehia Glass, associate professor of Educational Psychology and Elementary Education and Cato College of Education director of diversity and inclusion. “Dr. Davis’ ways of bridging community and the academy together in a multitude of spaces allows us to see and read about her passion for people who are oppressed. As the Charlotte community continues to learn ways to disrupt traumatizing and oppressive systems, we can learn from one of the great intellects of our time.”
Davis has been deeply involved in national and international efforts to advocate for economic, racial and social justice. In recent years, her work has focused on the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the generalized criminalization of those communities that are most affected by poverty and racial discrimination. Her work and her own experiences in the early 1970s as a person who spent 18 months in jail and on trial after being placed on the FBI’s “10 Most Wanted List,” inform the critical roles she has had in popularizing the notion of a “prison industrial complex” and founding Critical Resistance, a national organization dedicated to the dismantling of said complex. Davis has been honored across the world for her work as a champion for international justice and civil rights.
Davis’ teaching career includes work at San Francisco State University, Mills College and the University of California, Berkeley. She also has taught at UCLA, Vassar, the Claremont Colleges and Stanford University. She spent the last 15 years at the University of California, Santa Cruz, where she serves as Distinguished Professor Emerita of History of Consciousness, an interdisciplinary Ph.D. program, and of Feminist Studies. She holds a bachelor’s degree in French and philosophy from Brandeis University, a master’s degree in philosophy from the University of California, San Diego, and a doctorate in philosophy from Humboldt University in Berlin, Germany.
Counseling and Psychological Services is cosponsoring Davis’ Feb. 12 visit with support from the Chancellor’s Diversity Challenge Fund and the 49er Family Fund, as well as the collaborative partnerships of the Campus Activities Board; Women and Gender Studies Program; Department of Africana Studies; School of Social Work; Office of Identity, Equity and Engagement; J. Murray Atkins Library; and the Center for Holocaust, Genocide & Human Rights Studies.