04. Angela Davis

I. Angela Davis posters

On October 13, 1970, Angela Davis was arrested in New York City by FBI agents. She soon became a global icon suggesting freedom, resilience, and the struggle for equality. Her image was used to illustrate many causes that sometimes had little to do with racial discrimination or the American Civil Rights movement.

Free Angela Davis posters

Those three posters are all derived from a single photograph: a portrait of Angela Davis by F. Joseph Crawford. They were all printed and released as part of various national movements in support of Angela Davis while she was imprisoned in the United States.

1) Consider Crawford's photograph on the first poster. Among the list of adjectives below, which ones correspond to Angela Davis's posture and gaze?

Shy - Proud - Pessimistic - Submissive - Defiant

2) The second poster was printed in Cuba. Beyong the American Civil Rights movement, what did Angela Davis symbolise for Cuba?

Look at the colours used by Félix Beltrán. What do you think the red stands for? Beltrán declared he wanted to use the colours of the American flag, only there is no white in the image... What message was he trying to convey?

3) The third posters was printed in France. Why is it significant that it should be a black and white print?

You will notice that Angela Davis looks more feminine and sophisticated in this poster (fuller lips, gentler curves, longer eyelashes, wearing a fur coat). Can you guess why the artist introduced these features? What movement or activism can you relate this to?

Shepard Fairey posters

Shepard Fairey has taken up the iconic image of Angela Davis in many of his designs. Here are three prints by the famous Los Angeles based street artist.

1) In the third poster, what episode of Angela Davis's life does the grid pattern represent? What does it symbolise more generally?

2) Look at the two slogans on the second poster (power and equality / power to the people). What do they suggest about the evolution of Angela Davis's status as an icon? Who and/or what does she represent now?

3) Is it really essential to know about Angela Davis to understand these posters? Could Shepard Fairey have used another iconic face on those posters? Can you think of other important figures of history or popular culture whose image is often rooted out of its context?

II. Free Angela and All Political Prisoners

General comprehension

1) What is the nature of the document?

- A music video

- A propaganda message

- A film trailer

2) What period and context does the background music evoke?

3) What kind of film is introduced by the document?

Detailed comprehension

Part 1 (beginning - 0:28)

1) Fill in the blanks:

There is a …………………………. to wipe out, to ……………… every single ……………… ………………… and the black community as a …………………………. .

2) What were the four reasons why Agela Davis was viewed as 'problem creating'?

3) What word is used by Angela Davis when describing the abuses undergone by the black community in the US? In your opinion, why did she choose this term?

Part 2 (0:28 - 1:00)

1) What famous black power movement begins in the 1960's?

2) Who stood against Angela Davis?

3) What is said about the 'system' in the United States?

4) On which FBI list did Angela Davis appear?

5) Why did her arrest become a symbol of the oppression of black people?

Part 3 (1:00 - end)

1) What metaphor is used to stress the inequality of the struggle that opposed Angela Davis to American justice?

2) What were the consequences of her arrest?

3) What is black power equated with?

4) Fill in the blanks:

"In that period the revolution was ………… …………. ………… ………….. and we had to do everything we could to ……………... it ……………….. ."

Phonetics: the nuclear stress

1) Watch the video again and pay particular attention to the following phrases and sentences when they are spoken:

- There is a conspiracy

- Brothers and sisters this is genocide

- We have to talk about being radical

- Regan believed that she was dangerous

- Black power means dignity

In each sentence, underline one word which is particularly emphasised by the speaker.

2) Complete the following rule: In every sentence or intonative phrase, one word bears a particularly stong stress: it is called the nucleus. The nuclear stress usually falls on the ………….. word of the sentence.

3) What kind of words are emphasised?

4) Read this page to learn more about the nuclear stress.

(read only La syllabe nucléaire (« nucleus »))

III. Negotiating the Transformations of History

This is an extract from Angela Davis's The Meaning of Freedom, a collection of speeches and papers dealing with the author's life-long struggle against oppression, inequality and prejudice.

More than once I have heard people say, “If only a new Black Panther Party could be organized, then we could seriously deal with The Man, you know?” But suppose we were to say: “There is no Man anymore.” There is suffering. There is oppression. There is terrifying racism. But this racism does not come from the mythical “Man.” Moreover, it is laced with sexism and homophobia and unprecedented class exploitation associated with a dangerously globalized capitalism. We need new ideas and new strategies that will take us into the twentyfirst century.

What I am suggesting is that those of us who are elders have to stop functioning as gatekeepers. We cannot establish age and civil rights or black power experience as the main criteria for radical black political leadership today. How old was Dr. Martin Luther King when he became the spokesperson for the Montgomery bus boycott? He was 26 years old. How old was Diane Nash? How old was Huey Newton? Fidel Castro? Nelson Mandela? Amilcar Cabral? Jacqueline Creft? Maurice Bishop? As for myself, I was only 25 years old when I had to confront Ronald Reagan over the issue of my right as a Communist to teach at UCLA. We cannot deny young people their rightful place in this movement today or it will be our downfall. In many instances, young people are able to see far more clearly than we that our lives are shaped by the intersections of race, class, gender, and sexuality. (...)

We speak today about a crisis in contemporary social movements. This crisis has been produced in part by our failure to develop a meaningful and collective historical consciousness. Such a consciousness would entail a recognition that our victories attained by freedom movements are never etched in stone. What we often perceive under one set of historical conditions as glorious triumphs of mass struggle can later ricochet against us if we do not continually reconfigure the terms and transform the terrain of our struggle. The struggle must go on. (...)

Beware of those leaders and theorists who eloquently rage against white supremacy but identify black gay men and lesbians as evil incarnate. Beware of those leaders who call upon us to protect our young black men but will beat their wives and abuse their children and will not support a woman’s right to reproductive autonomy. Beware of those leaders! And beware of those who call for the salvation of black males but will not support the rights of Caribbean, Central American, and Asian immigrants, or who think that struggles in Chiapas or in Northern Ireland are unrelated to black freedom. Beware of those leaders! Regardless of how effectively (or ineffectively) veteran activists are able to engage with the issues of our times, there is clearly a paucity of young voices associated with black political leadership. The relative invisibility of youth leadership is a crucial example of the crisis in contemporary black social movements.

General comprehension

1) What problem in contemporary social movements does Angela Davis identify?

2) Why is it essential that young people should become activists?

3) What is wrong with the older generation of activists?

Detailed comprehension

Part 1 (paragraphs 1&2)

1) Which 'past struggles' are being alluded to in the first paragraph?

2) Match these words from the text (first column) with their synonyms (second column):

3) In paragraph 2, the slang phrase 'The Man' refers to:

- a central power or administration that controls people and oppresses minorities

- the President of the United States

- a white supremacy group

4) What has replaced this 'mythical Man' activist struggled against in the 1960's?

Part 2 (paragraph 3)

1) Choose one of the activists mentioned by Angela Davis (Diane Nash, Huey Newton, Fidel Castro, Nelson Mandela, Amilcar Cabral, Jacqueline Creft, Maurice Bishop). Use the internet to find out about what he/she stood for and at what age he/she became a national figure.

2) True or false (justify by quoting from the text).

a) Radical black movements must rely on experienced leaders

b) Martin Luther King was involved in the Montgomery bus boycott

c) Ronald Reagan did not want Angela Davis to teach because she was a communist

3) Can modern social movements be based exclusively on race questions? What other issues are related to racial discrimination according to Angela Davis?

Part (paragraphs 4&5)

1) Explain in your own words the meaning of these two metaphorical expressions from paragraph four: "to be etched in stone" and "to ricochet against."

2) Name three contradictions that characterise older leaders of the black movements according to Angela Davis.

3) What does Angela Davis try to prove by drawing a parallel between Northern Ireland and the American Civil Rights movement?

Going further

1) Do you agree with Angela Davis when she writes that social movements lack younger figures? Can you think of young people in the English speaking world who embody social activism?

2) In The Meaning of Freedom, Angela Davis regrets that young black artist, especially in the hip-hop movement, should represent some conceptions of black activism while conveying a sexist and sometimes homophobic discourse. Discuss that statement.

Grammar - GENITIVE

1) Transform the following N of N structures into genitives according to the example:

The struggle of black people → Black people's struggle

The leaders of the radical movements →

The opinion of Angela Davis →

The stance of Nelson Mandela →

2) Complete the following chart with the form of the genitive case that should be used for each of the four categories listed bellow («'» or «'s»).

3) Confirm your answers by reading this page.

Final task

Speaking task

Work in pairs. Imagine a conversation between a journalist and Angela Davis following the release of Free Angela, the documentary. The interview will focus on her legacy, her state of mind at the time of the events, her reaction to various uses made of her image.

Writing task

You are an art critic writing a paper on Shepard Fairey's Angela David posters. Discuss the significance and relevance of her iconic status today. You could compare the Angela Davis posters with other artworks by Shepard Fairey involving other iconic figures.