Angela Davis, 2006 Moe Lecturer
Angela Davis, an internationally known political activist and public intellectual, will speak at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, April 12, in Alumni Hall in the O.J. Johnson Student Union at Gustavus Adolphus College. This free, public lecture is made possible by the Robert and Karin Moe Lectureship in Women’s Studies.
Davis’ activism began as a child growing up in Alabama and stayed with her through her high school years in New York. However, she did not enter the national spotlight until 1969 when she was removed from her teaching position in the philosophy department at University of California, Los Angeles. This removal was a direct result of her social activism and her membership in Communist Party USA. In 1970, she was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List. Her arrest led to one of the most famous trials in recent U.S. history, in which she was acquitted in 1972. Davis remains a dedicated activist for the oppressed, focusing on women’s issues and prisons.
In 1994, she was appointed to the University of California Presidential Chair in African American and Feminist Studies, which she held until 1997. Davis has written five books, including Women, Culture, & Politics (1989), Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003), and Abolition Democracy (2005). Today, she is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.
The Moe Lectureship in Women’s Studies was established by Robert and Karin Moe in honor of their daughter, Kris Burke Moe. Davis is the eighth holder of the lectureship since its creation in 1996. Over the years, this lectureship has become a signature event for the Women’s Studies program at Gustavus, and serves as an opportunity for the College to bring many noteworthy scholars from various fields to campus.
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Media Contact: Director of Media Relations and Internal Communication Luc Hatlestad
luch@gustavus.edu
507-933-7510