Ask three people about Angela Davis, and you’ll probably get four or five different descriptions.
Feminist? Communist? Criminal? Scholar? Vice Presidential Candidate?
If nothing else, she’s a #blaxit superstar. Her escape and the wisdom she brought back had a powerful impact on societal discourse in the United States.
Born black and female in Birmingham, Alabama in 1944, Angela’s life might have been brief and violent. She knew the four girls killed in the Birmingham Church bombing in 1963.
You’d have to ask Angela if she participated in a Junior Year Abroad in order to escape America, or to expand her own mind.
The experience certainly informed much of her life. According to Alice Kaplan, Angela’s time in France transformed herself, and “in turn transformed the cultural and political life of the United States”.
Kaplan’s book, Dreaming in French takes a look at the lives of three American women whose time outside of the United States influenced the rest of their lives.
Here’s an article featuring Angela that should be required reading for intelligent, empowered women considering an escape abroad.
Dreaming in French: On Angela Davis
Gia de Cadenet 