Angela Davis. She has two new books out this week: Abolition. Feminism. Now., which she co-authored, and a new edition of her autobiography, which was first published and edited by Toni Morrison in 1974. The book details Angela Davis’s early life, from growing up in a section of Birmingham, Alabama, known as Dynamite Hill due to the frequency of bombings by the Ku Klux Klan, to her work with the Black Panther Party and the U.S. Communist Party. In 1970, the FBI named Angela Davis as one of the 10 most wanted fugitives. Once caught, she faced the death penalty in California. After being acquitted on all charges, she spent her life fighting to change the criminal justice system.
I think that when Toni Morrison first raised the possibility of my writing an autobiography, I laughed, because it seemed that it was almost ridiculous to consider writing an autobiography in my twenties. However, we both came to the conclusion that it might be possible to write the kind of book that would be meaningful, that would not focus on me individually but would rather be more of a political autobiography. And I’m so thankful to Toni now, that she managed to convince me to write this book, not only
— source democracynow.org | Jan 19, 2022
