Angela Davis is a social activist, controversial former FBI Ten Most Wanted List fugitive, and woman on a mission to educate and revolutionize social justice in our world. She has not only educated the public through presentations and speeches, but also at the university level: She is currently a distinguished professor emerita of the history of consciousness and feminist studies at the University of California, Santa Cruz. In addition, Davis has written eight books, in which she has often discussed a range of social issues that are associated with the incarceration and criminalization of members of communities affected most by poverty and racial discrimination. Her own experiences in the 1970s, when she was placed on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitive List and spent 18 months in jail and on trial (she was acquitted of weapons-related charges), is only part of her reason for this precise focus. Davis is also a founding member of Critical Resistance, a national organization devoted to disassembling what they call “the prison industrial complex” (the term used to describe the expansion of the inmate population and the use of non-government resources to house and care for them). As a firm believer that too many resources are being put into the prison system and not into the creation and expansion of educational institutions, Davis will leave audiences thinking about the possibility of a world without prisons. In this world, education would be the favored outcome to criminal behavior. Don’t miss the chance to hear Davis speak when she comes to UW-Eau Claire April 23 for a lecture as part of The Forum series.

Angela Davis: How Gender, Race and Socioeconomic Status Define Equality for All • UW-Eau Claire Forum series lecture • 7:30pm, Wednesday, April 23 • Schofield Auditorium, UW-Eau Claire • $8 general admission, $6 UW System faculty staff and ages 62+, $4 UW System student and under 17 • (715) 836-3727 or (800) 949-UWEC • http://www.uwec.edu/Activities/programs/forum/