February 22, 2005—Former California Governor Ronald Reagan once vowed that Angela Davis would never again teach in the University of California system. In 1994, Davis received the distinguished honor of an appointment to the University of California Presidential Chair in African American and Feminist Studies, and today she is a tenured professor in the History of Consciousness Department at the University of California, Santa Cruz.

On Monday, March 7, the black activist, philosopher, and writer will come to Oberlin to discuss Resistance and Power: The New Abolitionism under the auspices of the College's Gender and Women's Studies Program. Co-sponsors are the African American Studies Program, the Office of the President, and the Multicultural Resource Center.

Davis will speak at 7 p.m. in Oberlin's First Church, located on the corner of Main and West Lorain streets (Rts. 58 & 511). The event, which is being held in celebration of International Women's Day, is free and open to the public.

A witness to the historical struggles of the contemporary era, Davis is known internationally for her ongoing work to combat oppression in the U.S. and abroad. Her activism began when she was a youngster in Birmingham, Alabama, and continued through her high school years in New York.

In 1969 she came to national attention after being removed from her teaching position in the philosophy department at UCLA as a result of her social activism and her membership in the Communist Party.   In 1970 Davis was placed on the FBI's Ten Most Wanted List on false charges, and was the subject of an intense police search that drove her underground and culminated in one of the most famous trials in recent U.S. history. During her 16-month incarceration, a massive international campaign to free Davis was organized, which led to her acquittal in 1972.

Davis's long-standing commitment to prisoners' rights dates back to her involvement in the campaign to free the Soledad Brothers, which led to her own arrest and imprisonment. Today she remains an advocate of prison abolition and has developed a powerful critique of racism in the criminal justice system. She is a member of the advisory board of the Prison Activist Resource Center, and currently in working on a comparative study of women's imprisonment in the U.S., the Netherlands, and Cuba.

Davis is the author of five books, including Angela Davis: An Autobiography; Women, Race, and Class; Blues Legacies and Black Feminism: Gertrude "Ma" Rainey, Bessie Smith, and Billie Holiday ; and The Angela Y. Davis Reader.

A United Nations event celebrated worldwide, International Women's Day has its roots in the early 1900s and the era of women seeking voting rights in many nations. The day recognizes women's contributions locally and globally and honors their acts of courage and determination in creating a better world for all.