Michaela Angela Davis is a writer on black style, race, gender and hip-hop culture in the United States. She is also a fashion expert and an "image activist."

Early life

Michaela Angela Davis was born in Germany and raised in Washington, D.C. Her mother was convinced her next child would be a boy, and after visiting the Sistine Chapel during her pregnancy decided to name him Michael Angelo. When Davis was born, her mother gave her the female version of the name, Michaela Angela.

From an early age, Davis was a student of the arts, especially acting. She began her studies at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts as a National Arts Scholar, then moved on to New York University, the Stella Adler Acting Conservatory and the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Publishing and writing career

After completing her studies, Davis went to work in 1991 for Essence as an associate fashion editor. Her first assignment was the styling of Anita Hill.

She was the associate fashion, culture and the executive fashion and beauty editor for Essence magazine. She was the founding fashion director for Vibe magazine, and she was the last editor-in-chief of Honey, a magazine for 18- to 34-year-old black women. Davis has written for many projects such as Everything But the Burden: What White People are Taking from Black Culture (ed. Greg Tate; Broadway Books, 2003), and authored Beloved Baby: A Baby's Scrapbook and Journal (Pocket Books, 1995). On the issue of colorism within the black community, Davis has said that "Anything that tears us apart as sisters, there’s no privilege in, we have equal pain, it’s just different and has been processed and presented to us in different ways."

Angela Yvonne Davis (born January 26, 1944) is an American political activist, academic scholar, and author. She emerged as a prominent counterculture activist and radical in the 1960s as a leader of the Communist Party USA, and had close relations with the Black Panther Party through her involvement in the Civil Rights Movement. Her interests include prisoner rights; she founded Critical Resistance, an organization working to abolish the prison-industrial complex. She was a professor (now retired) at the University of California, Santa Cruz in its History of Consciousness Department and a former director of the university's Feminist Studies department.

Davis was prosecuted under federal law and acquitted at trial of conspiracy in the 1970 armed take-over of a Marin County, California courtroom, in which four persons died.

Her research interests are feminism, African-American studies, critical theory, Marxism, popular music, social consciousness, and the philosophy and history of punishment and prisons. Her membership in the Communist Party led to Ronald Reagan's request in 1969 to have her barred from teaching at any university in the State of California. She was twice a candidate for Vice President on the Communist Party USA ticket during the 1980s.

Angela Davis (born June 23, 1985) is an Australian saxophonist currently residing in New York City. Her first release "The Art of The Melody" received strong reviews in the United States and Australia and was successful on the US Jazz Charts. She is known for her pure sound reminiscent of Lee Konitz (with whom she studied), Art Pepper and Paul Desmond. Davis is a 2014 recipient of the prestigious Brian Boak Bursary in Queensland.

Biography

Angela Davis grew up in Queensland, Australia. She studied at the Queensland Conservatorium under the tutelage of John Hoffman and Steve Newcomb. After graduating with first class honors, Davis went to study for a Masters of Music degree in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. She has since moved to New York, where she plays in clubs with her own group and as a sideman.

Discography

As leader

As a sideman