The Legacy of the Panthers in the 21st Century

Angela Davis and Vilma Reis

Renowned activist Angela Davis came to UCSB on November 1, 2005. Professor Davis was active in the Black Panthers and the Black Power movement and embodied the spirit of 60’s radicalism. Active as a scholar, writer and passionate advocate for prison reform, Angela Davis is currently a Professor in the History of Consciousness department at UC Santa Cruz and holds a UC Presidential Chair in African-American and Feminist studies.

During her visit to UCSB, Professor Davis gave two presentations. The first, held at the Multicultural Center, was a dialogue with Vilma Reis on prison reform, given as part of the New Racial Studies Project’s “Race, Crime, & Citizenship” series. Dr. Reis is a prominent scholar as well. She is the director of CEAFRO, the Center for Education and Training on Race and Gender Equity in Salvador da Bahia, Brazil. She is also a Professor of Sociology at the Federal University of Bahia and a Research Associate at the Project on Race and Democracy in the Americas of the Ralph J. Bunche Center for African American Studies at UCLA.

Davis’ second presentation coincided with “The Black Panthers 1968: Photographs by Ruth-Marion Baruch and Pirkle Jones,” an exhibit at the University Art Museum. Addressing a standingroom- only crowd at Corwin Pavilion, Davis challenged media representations of the Panthers from an insider’s perspective. The events were sponsored by the Museum, the MCC, the IHC, Law & Society, and the New Racial Studies Project.
A luncheon was hosted at the Center for Black Studies Research with Department Faculty joined by friends and colleagues from across the campus.