Wanted by the FBI, Interstate Flight - Murder, Kidnaping, Angela Yvonne Davis

Your Mirror: Portraits from the ICP Collection
Section: Identification
While photography allows people to present themselves as they wish to be seen, it has also been intertwined with the police and notions of criminality since the nineteenth century. In this case, two images of Angela Davis (b. 1944)are essentially reproduced as mug shots on this wanted poster, which was distributed throughout the country. Her multifaceted identity as a feminist, Communist, and college professor has been reduced to two identification photos and a list of crimes, of which she was later exonerated. Guns purchased by Davis were used by others in the kidnapping and murder of Judge Harold Hailey on August 7, 1970, in Marin County, California. After fleeing the state, Davis became the third woman ever to be added to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list. She was apprehended in New York City on August 18, 1970.