Angela Davis FBI Wanted poster, August 8th 1970
FBI Wanted Poster from 1970 when Davis was one of the Ten Most Wanted
Cornell has invited Angela Davis to give the Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration Lecture on February 3, 2025 at 7:00 p.m. in Sage Chapel. Tickets are required. As of December 15, in person attendance was sold out, but registration is available for the livestream.
Davis will speak on “The Intersectional Struggle for Liberation Today.” Speakers for this annual commemoration provide a “critical examination of King’s legacy and contemporary issues”, according to Cornell. The purpose of the MLK lecture is as follows:
“The annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Commemoration at Cornell aspires to be a cross-campus and community partnership that makes accessible the life and legacy of Dr. King for contemporary times. The King commemoration brings together Cornellians, Ithaca College, and Ithaca community colleagues to plan and participate in this event. The Commemoration seeks to bridge the gap between memory and history: the memory of an earlier generation that participated in or lived during the black freedom struggle of the 1950s and 1960s, and the history of a faraway time for persons born after this period.”
King is known for his advocacy of non-violence in addressing civil rights issues. King also advocated for an integrated and inclusive America. In contrast, Angela Davis was a leader of the Black Panthers and purchased the guns used in the 1970 kidnapping of a Judge and various bystanders from a courthouse where a black man was on trial. As a result, Davis was on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted List for “interstate flight to avoid prosecution for murder and kidnapping.”
Ultimately, Davis was acquitted of those charges in 1972. More recently, Davis has expressed support for the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions campaign against Israel. Davis also advocates for the abolition of all prisons.
In a 2023 episode of the PBS series Finding Your Roots, former Cornell Professor Henry Louis Gates revealed that Davis is a descendant of William Brewster, a passenger on the Mayflower. He also revealed that one of Davis’s grandfathers was John A. Darden, a white Alabama politician. In 1866, one of Davis’ ancestors filed a lawsuit to free his nephews from an unpaid plantation apprenticeship.
Davis previously spoke at Cornell on Sept. 17, 2007 as a guest of the Africana Studies and Research Center.
Last year’s MLK Lecturer was Kimberlé Crenshaw ‘81.
Davis’ talk will be held two weeks into the incoming Trump Administration, and it will be interesting to hear what advice she has for the University and the Cornell community to adapt to life with the new administration.
