Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is a radical activist, primarily working for racial and gender equality and for prison reform.

Born in Birmingham, Alabama, into a family of political activists, she is a graduate of the Little Red School House and a 1965 graduate of Brandeis University where she was a student of Herbert Marcuse. She followed Marcuse to San Diego where she earned a masters degree from the University of California , San Diego and her Ph.D. in Philosophy from the Humboldt University of Berlin, G. D. R. Davis worked as a philosophy lecturer at the UCLA during the 1960s, during which time she also was a radical feminist and activist, a member of the Communist Party USA and associated with the Black Panther Party. In a controversial decision, the University of California fired her from her job in 1969 because of her membership in the Communist Party. Davis ran for Vice President on the Communist ticket in 1980 and 1984 along with Gus Hall.

In 1970 Davis became the third woman on the FBI's Most Wanted List when she was charged with conspiracy, kidnapping, and homicide, due to her alleged participation in an escape attempt from Marin County Hall of Justice. She evaded the police for two weeks before being captured, tried, and acquitted of all charges eighteen months later. Her explanation is that one of her bodyguards, which she required due to death threats, used a gun registered to her in an escape attempt of which she was unaware.

She has continued a career of activism, and has written several books. A principal focus of her current activism is the state of prisons within the United States. She considers herself an abolitionist, not a "prison reformer", and refers to the United States prison system as the "prison-industrial complex". Her solutions include abolishing prisons and addressing the class, race, and gender factors that have led to large numbers of blacks and Latinos being incarcerated. She has lectured at San Francisco State University, Stanford University and other schools. She is currently a professor with the History of Consciousness department at the University of California, Santa Cruz and director of the Women's studies program. She states that in her teaching, which is mostly at the graduate level, she concentrates more on posing questions which encourage development of critical thinking then on imparting knowledge.

Davis unsuccessfully rallied against the 1995 Million Man March, arguing that the exclusion of women from this event necessarily promoted male chauvinism, and that the organizers of the event, including Louis Farrakhan, preferred women to take subordinate roles in society. She formed the African American Agenda 2000 , a small alliance of Black feminists in response to the March's growing popularity. Her actions arguably injured her previously strong popularity among African Americans. She identifies herself as a lesbian.

Although Dr. Davis is no longer a member of the Communist Party she points to Cuba as an example of a country which successfully addresses social and economic problems. In her view democracy and socialism are more compatible than democracy and capitalism. She makes no attempt to explain or excuse the Communist past but looks toward future solutions.

Dr. Davis, who lives in Oakland, California, can be reached by mail in care of her publisher, Seven Stories Press, 140 Watts Street, New York, NY 10013. She can also be reached by email but is unable to respond to many emails due to the large volume.

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Progressive art can assist people to learn not only about the objective forces at work in the society in which they live, but also about the intensely social character of their interior lives. Ultimately, it can propel people toward social emancipation.

List of books

• If They Come in the Morning: Voices of Resistance (1971)
• FrameUp: The Opening Defense Statement Made (1972)
• Angela Davis: An Autobiography (1974)
• Women, Race and Class (1981)
• Violence Against Women and the Ongoing Challenge to Racism (1985)
• Women, Race and Politics (1989)
• Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday (1999)
• The Angela Y. Davis Reader (1999)
• Are Prisons Obsolete? (2003)