Editing Angela Davis (section)

==Professor at the University of California, Los Angeles, 1969–1970==
[[File:Angela Davis enters Royce Hall for first lecture October 7 1969.jpg|thumb|right|Davis (center, without glasses) enters [[Royce Hall]] with Kendra Alexander at UCLA for her first lecture, October 1969]]

Beginning in 1969, Davis was an acting assistant professor in the [[UCLA Department of Philosophy|philosophy department]] at the [[University of California, Los Angeles]] (UCLA). Although both [[Princeton University|Princeton]] and [[Swarthmore College|Swarthmore]] had tried to recruit her, she opted for UCLA because of its urban location.<ref>{{cite book|url=http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1427|title=Encyclopedia of Alabama|publisher=Auburn University|date=January 8, 2008|access-date=April 11, 2012|archive-date=March 13, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140313145214/http://www.encyclopediaofalabama.org/face/Article.jsp?id=h-1427|url-status=dead}}</ref> At that time she was known as a [[radical feminist]] and activist, a member of the Communist Party USA, and an affiliate of the Los Angeles chapter of the Black Panther Party.<ref name="BookTV">{{cite episode|title=Interview with Angela Davis|series=BookTV|airdate=October 3, 2004}}</ref><ref name="Angela Y. Davis Reader">{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Peut8UbchIsC|title=The Angela Y. Davis Reader|editor-first=Joy|editor-last=James|publisher=Blackwell|date=1998|access-date=July 18, 2019|isbn=9780631203612|archive-date=April 12, 2024|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412144947/https://books.google.com/books?id=Peut8UbchIsC|url-status=live}}</ref>

Davis had previously joined the Communist Party in 1968 and had become a member of the Black Panther Party, working with a branch of the Black Panther Party in Los Angeles where she directed political education.<ref>Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books. p.</ref> When Black Panther Party leadership determined that party members could not also be affiliated with other parties, Davis retained her Communist Party membership although continued to work with the Black Panther Party.<ref>Davis, A. Y. (2016). Freedom is a constant struggle: Ferguson, Palestine, and the foundations of a movement. Haymarket Books.</ref>

In 1969, the [[University of California]] initiated a policy against hiring Communists.<ref name=LATimesObit>{{Cite news|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-04-mn-45393-story.html|title=Jerry Pacht; L.A. Judge, Member of Judicial Commission|date=April 4, 1997|newspaper=Los Angeles Times|first=Myrna|last=Oliver|access-date=January 30, 2021|archive-date=January 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210128045417/https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1997-04-04-mn-45393-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref> At their September 19, 1969, meeting, the [[Regents of the University of California|Board of Regents]] fired Davis from her $10,000-a-year post ({{Inflation|index=US-GDP|value=10000|start_year=1969|r=-1|fmt=eq}}) because of her membership in the Communist Party,<ref name="Davis Ousted">{{Cite news|last=Davies|first=Lawrence E.|title=UCLA Teacher is Ousted as Red|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=20 September 1969|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/09/20/archives/ucla-teacher-is-ousted-as-red-a-battle-in-court-predicted-on-action.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 August 2023|archive-date=August 7, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230807012624/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/09/20/archives/ucla-teacher-is-ousted-as-red-a-battle-in-court-predicted-on-action.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=SaxonPerryObit>{{Cite news|first=Wolfgang|last=Saxon|title=Jerry Pacht, 75, Retired Judge Who Served on Screening Panel|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=14 April 1997|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/14/us/jerry-pacht-75-retired-judge-who-served-on-screening-panel.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 August 2023|archive-date=March 31, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331175930/https://www.nytimes.com/1997/04/14/us/jerry-pacht-75-retired-judge-who-served-on-screening-panel.html|url-status=live}}</ref> urged on by [[Governor of California|California Governor]] and future president [[Ronald Reagan]].<ref name="Marquez2014">{{cite web |last1=Marquez |first1=Letisia |title=Angela Davis returns to UCLA classroom 45 years after controversy |url=http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/angela-davis-returns-to-ucla-classroom-45-years-after-controversy |website=UCLA Newsroom |publisher=[[University of California at Los Angeles]] |access-date=August 26, 2019 |date=May 5, 2014 |archive-date=March 31, 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190331175940/http://newsroom.ucla.edu/stories/angela-davis-returns-to-ucla-classroom-45-years-after-controversy |url-status=live }}</ref> Judge [[Jerry Pacht]] ruled the Regents could not fire Davis solely because of her affiliation with the Communist Party, and she resumed her post.<ref name="Judge-Against Regents">{{Cite news|title=UCLA Barred from Pressing Red's Ouster|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=21 October 1969|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/21/archives/ucla-barred-from-pressing-reds-ouster-judge-calls-regents-effort-to.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 August 2023|archive-date=February 1, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230201205759/https://www.nytimes.com/1969/10/21/archives/ucla-barred-from-pressing-reds-ouster-judge-calls-regents-effort-to.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name=SaxonPerryObit/><ref name="JetCensureStory">{{cite news |title=University Censured for Dismissing Angela Davis |volume=42 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rrEDAAAAMBAJ&q=board |access-date=August 26, 2019 |work=[[Jet (magazine)|Jet]] |issue=XLII: 9 |page=8 |publisher=[[Johnson Publishing Company]] |date=May 25, 1972 |archive-date=April 12, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240412144918/https://books.google.com/books?id=rrEDAAAAMBAJ&q=board#v=snippet&q=board&f=false |url-status=live }}</ref>

The Regents fired Davis again on June 20, 1970, for the "inflammatory language" she had used in four different speeches. The report stated, "We deem particularly offensive such utterances as her statement that the regents 'killed, brutalized (and) murdered' the [[1969 People's Park protest|People's Park demonstrators]], and her repeated characterizations of the police as 'pigs{{'"}}.<ref name="Regents/UCLA">{{Cite news|last=Turner|first=Wallace|title=California Regents Drop Communist From Faculty|newspaper=[[The New York Times]]|date=20 June 1970|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/20/archives/california-regents-drop-communist-from-faculty.html|url-access=subscription|access-date=6 August 2023|archive-date=August 13, 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230813152106/https://www.nytimes.com/1970/06/20/archives/california-regents-drop-communist-from-faculty.html|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[American Association of University Professors]] censured the board for this action.<ref name="JetCensureStory"/>