Bettina Aptheker - The Morning Breaks: The Trial of Angela Davis

On August 7, 1970, a revolt by Black prisoners in a Marin County courthouse stunned the nation. In its aftermath, Angela Davis, an African American activist-scholar who had campaigned vigorously for prisoners rights, was placed on the FBIs 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 compelling tale (Publishers Weekly), brought strong public indictment. The Morning Breaks is a riveting firsthand account of Daviss ordeal and her ultimate triumph, written by an activist in the student, civil rights, and antiwar movements who was intimately involved in the struggle for her release.

First published in 1975, and praised by The Nation for its graphic narrative of [Daviss] legal and public fight, The Morning Breaks remains relevant today as the nation contends with the political fallout of the Sixties and the grim consequences of institutional racism. For this edition, Bettina Aptheker has provided an introduction that revisits crucial events of the late 1960s and early 1970s and puts Daviss case into the context of that time and our ownfrom the killings at Kent State and Jackson State to the politics of the prison system today. This book gives a first-hand account of the worldwide movement for Angela Daviss freedom and of her trial. It offers a unique historical perspective on the case and its continuing significance in the contemporary political landscape.