Part Two Of Angela Davis Sparknotes

In Part Two of Angela Davis: An Autobiography, Angela Davis recounts her childhood and growing up black in Alabama. From a young age, Davis recounts, “At the age of four I was aware that the people across the street were different- without yet being able to trace their alien nature to the color of their skin…the Montees, sat on the porch all the time, their eyes heavy with belligerence” (Davis 78). This early realization of the overt racism and prejudice present in the community Davis grew up in would continue to impact how Davis’ own relations with other races would be impacted. As Davis grows older, she is even more aware of the hatred and prejudice present in her community, which leads to the first life-changing event in Davis’ life, which

The shock of the explosion becomes the first of many incidents against the black community that Davis experiences, impacting her own prejudices against white people, “White people’s hatred of us was neither natural nor eternal. She knew that whenever I answered the telephone and called to her, ‘Mommy, a white lady wants to talk to you,’ I was doing more than describing than the curious drawl. Every time I said ‘white lady’ or ‘white man’ anger clung to my words” (Davis 79). Davis’ experiences with the bombing of a member of her local community changed her view of white people and moved her towards her eventual activism and work to help other black people in her community. Anger clings to Davis as she continues to see how the world seems to be stacked against her, just because of the color of her skin, and the institutions she once followed seem to be doing less to protect her rights, naturally leading to the exploration of new ideas and movements to find community and

Her first thoughts on the text are what shape her activism journey from a young communist to a political prisoner of war, “The Communist Manifesto hit me like a bolt of lightning. I read it avidly, finding in it answers to many of the seemingly unanswerable dilemmas which had plagued me. I read it over and over again, not completely understanding every passage or every idea, but enthralled nevertheless” (Davis 109-110). The Manifesto is what opened Davis’eyes to new possibilities as she states, “I began to see the problem of Black people within the context… My ideas about black liberation were imprecise… I was acquiring some understanding about how capitalism could be abolished” (Davis 110). Simply put, Davis’ experiences with communism and the manifesto made it possible for her to continue in her quest to make a difference in her black community. Communism became the answer to Davis; dissatisfaction with the hand that had been dealt to her through the hands of her oppressors. Because of her first experiences with communism, Davis was able to meet other communists, attend lectures, and