Angela Davis speaks at Grinnell College

Angela Davis gave the commencement address Monday to Grinnell College's graduating class of 2007 (of which I was a part). In her short address, she skillfully linked the history of Grinnell College with her own activism as well as what she called the obligations of graduates to fight for justice in the world. She was warmly received by most at the college, though some were disappointed that Davis, given her controversial background, was chosen to speak.

Davis first came to prominence in 1969 when she was fired from her teaching position at the University of California Los Angeles for being a member of the Communist Party (apparently at California Gov. Ronald Reagan’s behest), though she was later rehired. It was in 1970, however, that Davis achieved international fame (or infamy). She had become involved with the Black Panthers, and after the group attempted a prison break in which Judge Harold Haley was killed, she was charged with being an accomplice. Davis went underground but was eventually captured and arrested. She was acquitted of all charges after one of the most famous trials of the era and an international “Free Angela Davis” movement. Davis now teaches at the University of California Santa Cruz and is an outspoken critic of racism within the U.S. prison system and calls for prison abolition.

In her address, she urged Grinnell graduates to remember the legacy of college founder Josiah B. Grinnell who helped make Grinnell College a stop on the Underground Railroad (and, as legend has it, was told to “Go West, young man” by Horace Greeley). J.B. Grinnell had been an abolitionist and, according to Davis, had associated himself with John Brown, the violent abolitionist who tried to foment a slave insurrection in 1859.  In her speech, Davis linked her activism and her struggle to spread freedom with that of J.B. Grinnell’s and called on the Grinnell class of 2007 to continue that struggle.  “Will you remember that you attended a college [that shares a name with] a man who unabashedly called himself a radical?” Davis asked. “I hope that you will have the courage to draw upon the education you have received here” to make the world a better place.

Her speech seemed to resonate with many.  In an informal survey of graduates, nearly all said they liked her speech and that they had been excited about her selection; last year’s address by Iowa Gov. Tom Vilsack was roundly panned as giving more of a political stump speech than a commencement address.

Not everyone was pleased with Davis’ selection. Michael H. Denyer, a father of a Grinnell graduate, wrote a letter to the college newspaper, the Scarlet & Black condemning the choice:

Since [Davis’ legal episode], she’s apparently made a living as an academic professional victim, her trade racism, her scientific contribution nil. Her irrational rants masquerade as social science. Is this dishonest scholarship something Grinnell espouses? Why choose as speaker an unrepentant accessory to violence and pseudo-scholar? Why send off our graduating sons and daughters with a pep talk from a cartoon relic of 60’s radicalism?

On the other hand, a different parent of a graduate who asked to remain nameless, was impressed with Davis' remarks. “She acknowledged that we live in complex times, and the answers aren’t simple," the parent said. "Her eloquent remarks contained much wisdom and inspired the crowd to remember we live in a global community and that what we do matters beyond the confines of our own neighborhood.”

Molly Thompson, a native of St. Louis, Mo., who graduated from Grinnell on Monday echoed this sentiment. "I liked the speech,” she said. “I felt motivated afterward."