1960s radical, activist Angela Davis to speak at Ball State

MUNCIE, Ind. (AP) - Social activist and 1960s radical Angela Davis is coming to Ball State University to discuss institutional racism in the nation's prisons.

The 73-year-old academic who's known for her work on economic, racial and gender justice will speak Sept. 22 at Emens Auditorium in a free event open the public.

Davis was a University of California, Los Angeles, professor in 1969 when her firing for being a Communist party member attracted national attention. She was acquitted in 1972 of providing guns for Black Panthers in a California courthouse shooting.

Davis taught at several colleges. She retired in 2008 from the University of California, Santa Cruz, as a professor of feminist studies and the history of consciousness.

Her recent work examines the social problems associated with incarceration, poverty and racial discrimination.