Content Warning: This section references systemic racism, including the police murders of Black Americans.

Davis’s activism with the Che-Lumumba Club intersected with the work of the Black Panthers. The Black Panther Party originated in Oakland, California, in the 1960s. Huey P. Newton and Bobby Seale, both college students at the time, founded the group, which established chapters around the country and called for Black liberation. They embraced communist ideology and were active in establishing Black community services, such as a children’s free breakfast program, ambulance service, and food banks. Members of the Black Panthers, like Davis, were targets of state oppression, as when the police raided the Panthers’ Los Angeles office, causing a shoot-out that led to the arrest of members of the group. Davis was active in organizing protests calling for the release of the Panthers.

The Che-Lumumba Club was a Black Communist collective based in Los Angeles. Angela Davis joined in 1968 and organized many demonstrations in support of Black liberation in conjunction with club members, including a campaign to free the Soledad Brothers. Members of the group, including leaders Franklin and Kendra Alexander, acted as some of Davis’s most ardent supporters when she was arrested and tried on charges of involvement in the Marin County courthouse uprising.