Interfaith CincinnatiInterfaith Cincinnati
WHAT: The National Underground Railroad Freedom Center, in partnership with The Ohio State University and Wright State University, is reexamining prominent – and at times controversial – educator, scholar and civil rights activist Angela Davis. A panel of scholars will discuss Davis’s legacy and will be moderated by Dr. Sharon Lynette Jones, professor in the English Language & Literatures Department at Wright State University and author of Conversations with Angela Davis. Reconsidering Angela Davis: Reflections on Engagement and Societal Transformations will take place virtually Tuesday, December 7 at 5 p.m.
Davis has held multiple teaching positions as prestigious universities, including UCLA, Rutgers University, Syracuse University and Vassar College, among others. She has been at the forefront of several social justice issues in her lifetime, including the second-wave feminist movement of the 1960s, the anti-war campaign during the Vietnam War, advocating for gay rights and, most prominently, abolishing the American prison system. She has also been an active member of the Communist Party USA, running as a vice presidential candidate for the party on two occasions. In 1970, she was imprisoned for over a year in connection to an armed takeover of a courtroom before she was finally acquitted of the charges.
Davis’s accolades intimate a complicated life that has made understanding her a nuanced dialogue. She was awarded the Soviet Union’s Lenin Peace Prize and has been inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame. In 2020, she was listed as Time’s 1971 “Woman of the Year” and included in Time’s 100 Most Influential People of 2020.
The panelists will discuss Davis’s legacy and the complicated dynamics of protest during the virtual discussion December 7 at 5 p.m.
The virtual discussion is free but registration is required.
Panelists include:
WHEN: Tuesday, December 7 at 5 p.m.
WHERE: Online via Zoom. https://us06web.zoom.us/