The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis

On August 7th, 1970, a revolt by black prisoners in a Marin County courthouse stunned the USA. In its aftermath, Angela Davis, an African-American activist-scholar who had campaigned vigorously for prisoners’ rights, was placed on the FBI’s ten most wanted list. Captured in New York City two months later, she was charged with murder, kidnapping and conspiracy. Her trial, chronicled in this volume, brought strong public indictment. The book is an account of Davis’s ordeal and her ultimate triumph, written by an activist in the student, civil rights and anti-war movements who was intimately involved in the struggle for her release. First published in 1975, the text remains relevant as the US contends with the political fallout of the 1960s and early 1970s and puts Davis’s case into the context of that time and this - from the killings at Kent State and Jackson State to the politics of the contemporary prison system. The text provides a first-hand account of the worldwide movement for Angela Davis’s freedom and of her trial and offers a historical perspective on the case and its continuing significance in the contemporary political landscape.