Southeastern Social Justice speaker series to feature activist Angela Davis


Wednesday, October 22, 2014 Angela Davis
by: Tonya Lowentritt

HAMMOND- Social activist Angela Davis will be the featured speaker at Southeastern Louisiana University's Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice's 10th Annual Social Justice Speaker Series event Nov. 5.

Davis, a professor emeritus in the History of Consciousness and Feminist Studies departments at the University of California-Santa Cruz, will speak in the Grand Ballroom in the Student Union at 2 p.m. The event is free and open to the public.

Davis is known widely as a political and social activist who at one time was on the FBI's Most Wanted List, which culminated in her arrest and eventual acquittal of all charges in 1972. She is the author of nine books, the most recent being "The Meaning of Freedom and Other Difficult Dialogues." She has lectured throughout the United States, as well as Europe, Africa, Asia, Australia, and South America.

In recent years, a persistent theme of her work has been the range of social problems associated with incarceration and the criminalization communities most affected by poverty and racial discrimination, said Assistant Professor of Sociology Marc Settembrino.

Davis has also conducted extensive research on numerous issues related to race, gender and imprisonment.

Settembrino said Davis is especially concerned with the general tendency to devote more resources and attention to the prison system than to educational institutions, Settembrino said.

The Sociology and Criminal Justice Department organized the annual Social Justice Speaker Series as a means of bringing nationally and internationally recognized social justice activists to the Southeastern community. Previous speakers have included Sister Helen Prejean on the death penalty, Morris Dees of the Southern Poverty and Law Center on war and human rights, and Medea Benjamin, co-founder of Code Pink on the recovery and redevelopment of New Orleans following Hurricane Katrina.

For more information, contact the Department of Sociology and Criminal Justice at 985-549-2110.




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