1970s to 1980
Angela Davis (1944-Present)
Angela Davis, one of the most iconic activists of her time, has been described as brilliant, radical, graceful and audacious. The dynamic civil rights activist who was at one point the face of the Black Panther Party, has lived and sacrificed in the name of freedom and humanity. From her 18 month imprisonment for alleged involvement in the murder of a prison guard, to a period of hiding from and being on the FBI’s most wanted list, Angela Davis’ life has been prolific and serves as a phenomenal example of what it means to fight.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis had a firsthand observation of racism that lit in her the flame of resistance — a flame that erupted into a fire as she grew into adulthood. Her resistance was not only against injustices toward Black America, but she also fought for women’s rights and against LGBTQ+ oppression. Her 1970s arrest sparked inspiration for songs like “Angela,” written by John Lennon and Yoko Ono, and the Rolling Stones’ “Sweet Black Angel.” — Jordyn Britton
Toni Morrison (1931-2019)
Described “as a gift from God,” Nobel laureate Toni Morrison wrote 11 novels during her 88 years. Yet revisionists still try to ban her books, such as her 1970 debut novel, The Bluest Eye, a perennial on the American Library Association’s annual listing of the “Top 10 Most Challenged Books.” The Bluest Eye is really about “inner pain,” she said, a residue from slavery that is just as detrimental as lynching and other forms of racism.
Another target is Beloved, even though it’s based on true, though reimagined, events and won a Pulitzer Prize in 1988. More than 100 literary luminaries cited Beloved as the best work of American fiction in the previous 25 years, according to a 2006 poll by the New York Times Book Review.
Morrison unapologetically described her work as an “intimate and direct account to the people in the book and to Black people.” And we are thankful for her books of knowledge.
