On This Day In Alabama History: Warrant Issued For Birmingham Native Angela Davis

Alabama News Center | August 16, 2017 @ 5:00 am

By Graydon Rust
Alabama 200

August 16, 1970

California authorities issued a warrant for the arrest of civil rights activist Angela Davis for her role in an attempted prisoner escape that led to the deaths of four people, including a judge. A Birmingham native, Davis legally owned three guns used in the bloody shootout. The warrant led to a multi-month national hunt for Davis that landed her on the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. Davis eventually served 16 months in jail, and her long incarceration sparked an international “Free Angela Davis” campaign that included recordings by the Rolling Stones and John Lennon and Yoko Ono. In 1972, an all-white jury in Santa Cruz found Davis not guilty of all charges.

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