Angela Davis: An Autobiography

Davis is taken to the Marin County Civic Center after landing in California in late December 1970. There she is met by a demonstration calling out for her freedom, which brings her comfort and strength. The Marin County facility is sterile with bright lighting, in sharp contrast to the jail in New York. In her cell, unable to sleep, Davis thinks of the Soledad Brothers and Ruchell Magee, her co-defendant: “I knew the gas chamber was waiting for us all” (249).

Davis gathers a new legal team in California, with Margaret Burnham, her friend and attorney from New York, remaining part of her defense. Davis insists that the attorneys recognize she is a political prisoner and craft their defense accordingly. The state formally charges Davis and Magee on January 5, 1971. The two were linked after the FBI raided Davis’s apartment, where they uncovered an unopened letter from Magee to Davis written months earlier. The court therefore plans to try them together for the events at the Marin County Courthouse.

When the Marin County jail is evacuated due to a bomb threat, Davis and several other non-white prisoners are led out in handcuffs while a white woman prisoner is left uncuffed.