Political activist and author Angela Davis will be delivering the first lecture of 2021 Distinguished Lectures Committee series at the University of Arkansas. The lecture is part of the “Envisioning Justice: The Current Faces of Social Justice in America” virtual conference.
Davis rose to prominence in the 1960s, championing racial justice, feminism and far-left politics. She became a lecturer at the University of California, Los Angeles but was dismissed due to her political opinions in 1970, according to the Encyclopedia Britannica. She became a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz in 1991, where she is currently a professor emerita.
She also faced charges of kidnapping, murder and conspiracy in 1970. She was acquitted of all charges, which were related to an escape and kidnaping attempt at the Hall of Justice in Marin County, California.
During her career, she has authored 10 books, including Are Prisons Obsolete? and a recent collection of essays. In 1997, she founded the prison system abolition organization Critical Resistance.
Davis ran for U.S. vice president in 1980 as part of the Communist Party USA ticket.
“I am not only excited to bring a voice as influential; and didactic as Angela Davis to our campus, but to see how her ideas and personal experiences can be applied to our daily lives and our university,” Distinguished Lectures Committee vice chair Michael Furhman said in a statement.
University of Arkansas vice chancellor of diversity and inclusion Yvette Murphy-Irby will moderate the lecture.
This virtual lecture will be held Tuesday, Feb. 16, at 7 p.m. No registration is required.
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