79-year-old University of California professor Angela Davis got the surprise of her life last week when the Marxist learned she is descended from one of only 101 passengers on the Mayflower as well as a slave-owning Revolutionary War soldier.
Needless to say, the former Black Panther who won the Lenin Peace Prize in 1979 (formerly known as the Stalin Peace Prize) was aghast to learn of her true family ties.
Jean Genet, Angela Davis, and Jane Fonda at a Black Panther meeting in 1968. pic.twitter.com/vFrr8ayYzu
— Andrew Marzoni (@andrewmarzoni) February 22, 2023
Famed Black Activist
Many of you will know Angela Davis by name. Some of you will not.
Those of you who are old enough, might remember Davis for her involvement in a politically charged murder case in the 70s. The 26-year-old was jailed for her alleged role in a prisoner escape related shoot-out only to be fully acquitted after serving 18 months.
Davis’s story inspired a movement and songs by famous artists like “Sweet Black Angel” by the Rolling Stone and “Angela” by John Lennon and Yoko Ono.
The Marxist’s controversial ties ultimately cost Davis her UCLA professorship, but she eventually landed back in the classroom as a Humanities professor at University of California. Davis is also one of the founders of critical race theory.
Davis grew up in the “Dynamite Hill” neighborhood of Birmingham, Alabama. The nickname came from the number of homes targeted by the Ku Klux Klan. Her upbringing inspired Davis to join the Black Panthers and a black branch of the Community Party.
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Among Davis’s accolades are:
- running twice as Vice President on the Communist Party ticket
- making the FBI’s “Most Wanted” list in the 70’s
- being called a “dangerous terrorist” by Richard Nixon
- being part of the curriculum in Princeton’s Ivy League #BlackLivesMatter course
Davis is identitarian, which basically means she is concerned only with promoting the interests of her own cultural group.
How Angela Davis Ended Up on the FBI Most Wanted List
The scholar and activist was sought and then arrested by the FBI in 1970—and the experience informed her life’s work. https://t.co/dfjq5xA8fQ pic.twitter.com/y1rp8NWxhc
— Prison_Health (@Prison_Health) January 25, 2023
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Angela Davis Family Ties to Mayflower Pilgrims
Given Davis’s colored history, you can imagine what a shock it was to learn of her very white, slave-owning heritage on the set of PBS “Finding Your Roots” with Henry Louis Gates Jr.
Right off the bat, Gates presented Davis with a passenger manifest from the Mayflower.
The Marxist professor was immediately on defense – “No, my ancestors did NOT come here on the Mayflower”.
Gates then drops the bomb, “You are descended from of the 101 passengers that sailed on the Mayflower.” Davis’s heart visibly sinks. “Oof. That’s a little bit too much,” she exhales.
That’s right. The Black radical activist’s descendant William Brewster was among the English families, better known as the Pilgrims, that sailed to the New World in 1620.
Imagine how many people in America can claim heritage dating back to the Mayflower? Not many. But Angela Davis can – and she’s not happy about.
“Did you ever in your wildest dreams think that you may have descended from people who laid the foundation for this country?” Gates asks.
“Never. Never. Never. Never,” Davis emphatically replied.
“Do you know what you’re looking at? That is a list of the passengers on the Mayflower.”
Our researchers discovered #AngelaDavis’s ancestors traveled to the US on the Mayflower and here is her reaction. #FindingYourRoots pic.twitter.com/G2HhA9BSrT
— Henry Louis Gates Jr (@HenryLouisGates) February 22, 2023
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Angela Davis Family Ties to Slave Owning Revolutionary War Soldier
And Gates wasn’t done dropping bombs yet. In fact, the PBS host was just getting started.
Gates goes on to inform Davis, who “always imagined my ancestors as the people who were enslaved”, that she descends from a Revolutionary War solider on her mother’s side. Moreover, Stephen Darden, a drummer in the 4th Virginia regiment, would later move to Georgia and own slaves.
The PBS host contends that her father, Benjamin Frank Davis, knew that his birth father was white. Her white grandfather, Murphy Jones, had four children with her paternal grandmother, Mollie Spencer.
It turns out that Davis does descend from at least one slave as Spencer was born into slavery on a cotton plantation in Alabama.
The facts of the matter left Davis swirling, “I always imagined my ancestors as the people who were enslaved. My mind and my heart are swirling with all of these contradictory emotions.”
It must have felt like a bucket of cold water was dumped on Davis. To dedicate your life to promoting radical Black and leftist causes only to find out decades later that you are cut from the same cloth as your “oppressors”.
Does that mean famed Black activist Angela Davis should be subject to reparations? Some say yes.
Black Panther communist Angela Davis faces calls to pay reparations https://t.co/zlGTRudZLt pic.twitter.com/VHOzv9M69t
— Daily Mail US (@DailyMail) February 23, 2023
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