The work of the political activist inevitably involves a certain tension between the requirement that position be taken on current issues as they arise and the desire that one's contributions will somehow survive the ravages of time.

On April 16 2009 Angela Davis was the keynote speaker at the University of Virginia Carter G. University of Wisconsin – Madison Madison WI 2000. Angela Davis: Soul and Soledad.

She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s. She was tried and acquitted of suspected involvement in the Soledad brothers' August 1970 abduction and murder of Judge Harold Haley in Marin County California.