Editing Angela Davis (section)

===Brandeis University===
Davis was awarded a scholarship to [[Brandeis University]] in [[Waltham, Massachusetts|Waltham]], [[Massachusetts]], where she was one of three black students in her class. She encountered the [[Frankfurt School]] philosopher [[Herbert Marcuse]] at a rally during the [[Cuban Missile Crisis]] and became his student. In a 2007 television interview, Davis said, "Herbert Marcuse taught me that it was possible to be an academic, an activist, a scholar, and a revolutionary."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/aug/23/bourgeois-marxist|title=The Bourgeois Marxist|author=Barbarella Fokos|publisher=sandiegoreader.com|date=August 23, 2007|access-date=October 21, 2010|archive-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331175944/https://www.sandiegoreader.com/news/2007/aug/23/bourgeois-marxist/|url-status=live}}</ref> She worked part-time to earn enough money to travel to France and Switzerland and attended the eighth [[World Festival of Youth and Students]] in [[Helsinki, Finland|Helsinki]]. She returned home in 1963 to a [[Federal Bureau of Investigation]] interview about her attendance at the communist-sponsored festival.<ref name="Waters">{{cite book|last=Davis|first=Angela Yvonne|title=Angela Davis: An Autobiography|date=March 1989|publisher=International Publishers|location=New York City|isbn=0-7178-0667-7|chapter=Waters}}</ref>

During her second year at Brandeis, Davis decided to major in French and continued her study of philosopher and writer [[Jean-Paul Sartre]]. She was accepted by the [[Hamilton College (New York)|Hamilton College]] Junior Year in France Program. Classes were initially at [[Biarritz]] and later at the [[University of Paris|Sorbonne]]. In Paris, she and other students lived with a French family. She was in Biarritz when she learned of the 1963 [[16th Street Baptist Church bombing|Birmingham church bombing]], committed by members of the [[Ku Klux Klan]], in which four black girls were killed; she had been personally acquainted with the victims.<ref name="Waters"/>

While completing her degree in French, Davis realized that her primary area of interest was philosophy. She was particularly interested in Marcuse's ideas. On returning to Brandeis, she sat in on his course. She wrote in her autobiography that Marcuse was approachable and helpful. She began making plans to attend the [[Johann Wolfgang Goethe University Frankfurt am Main|University of Frankfurt]] for [[Graduate school|graduate work]] in philosophy. In 1965, she graduated ''[[magna cum laude]]'', a member of [[Phi Beta Kappa]].<ref name="Waters"/>