Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword: Messages from the American Prison
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Forerunners
- Part II Revolutionaries
- 3 No More Brothers in Jail
- 4 George Jackson and the Afterlives of “Full Revolt”
- 5 Angela Davis
- 6 Liberate Assata Shakur
- 7 Leonard Peltier’s Sun Dance
- 8 Mumia Abu-Jamal on Death Row
- Part III Witnesses
- Part IV Survivors
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
5 - Angela Davis
Radicalism and Abolition
from Part II - Revolutionaries
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 02 October 2025
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Edited by
Book contents
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- The Cambridge Companion to American Prison Writing and Mass Incarceration
- Copyright page
- Contents
- Figures
- Contributors
- Foreword: Messages from the American Prison
- Acknowledgments
- Chronology
- Introduction
- Part I Forerunners
- Part II Revolutionaries
- 3 No More Brothers in Jail
- 4 George Jackson and the Afterlives of “Full Revolt”
- 5 Angela Davis
- 6 Liberate Assata Shakur
- 7 Leonard Peltier’s Sun Dance
- 8 Mumia Abu-Jamal on Death Row
- Part III Witnesses
- Part IV Survivors
- Guide to Further Reading
- Index
- Cambridge Companions To Literature
Summary
Angela Davis, George Jackson, and other prominent Black intellectuals and radicals shaped abolition in different ways. The evolution and popularization of abolition promoted by Angela Davis was influenced by her own traumatic incarceration. Jon Jackson, the younger brother of George Jackson, had worked with Angela Davis to support the incarcerated men through the Soledad Brothers Defense Committee. Without her permission, in August 1970, Jonathan Jackson took guns belonging to Angela Davis to wage a raid at Marin County Courthouse in order to take hostages that could be exchanged to free Black prisoners. Prison guards shot and killed Jon Jackson, two Black prisoners, and a white judge in a stationary van. Davis fled the state, fearing reprisal from reactionaries, and was arrested by the FBI in October. During her incarceration, George Jackson was also killed by prison guard(s) in August 1971. Acquitted of all charges in 1972, Angela Davis advocated for abolition and over decades aligned abolition with advocacy academics; her work also increasingly focused on gender leadership of women and feminism, as noted in Women, Race and Class.
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- Publisher: Cambridge University PressPrint publication year: 2025
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