Alice Kaplan: Angela Davis’s France

Alice Kaplan: Angela Davis’s France

For a young black student, France was not the refuge it was reputed to be.

Copy Link
Facebook
X (Twitter)
Bluesky
Pocket
Email

When Angela Davis arrived in France in the early 1960s, she quickly learned that the country was not the refuge from Jim Crow racism that the young college student imagined it would be. But France nevertheless had an important impact on her thinking and development, as the turbulant decolonization fights of the decade “nourished her sense of politics.” Later, the country would play another important role in her life, as Alice Kaplan explains in her article in this week’s issue of The Nation, “Dreaming in French.”

—Elizabeth Whitman

Time is running out to have your gift matched 

In this time of unrelenting, often unprecedented cruelty and lawlessness, I’m grateful for Nation readers like you. 

So many of you have taken to the streets, organized in your neighborhood and with your union, and showed up at the ballot box to vote for progressive candidates. You’re proving that it is possible—to paraphrase the legendary Patti Smith—to redeem the work of the fools running our government.

And as we head into 2026, I promise that The Nation will fight like never before for justice, humanity, and dignity in these United States. 

At a time when most news organizations are either cutting budgets or cozying up to Trump by bringing in right-wing propagandists, The Nation’s writers, editors, copy editors, fact-checkers, and illustrators confront head-on the administration’s deadly abuses of power, blatant corruption, and deconstruction of both government and civil society. 

We couldn’t do this crucial work without you.

Through the end of the year, a generous donor is matching all donations to The Nation’s independent journalism up to $75,000. But the end of the year is now only days away. 

Time is running out to have your gift doubled. Don’t wait—donate now to ensure that our newsroom has the full $150,000 to start the new year. 

Another world really is possible. Together, we can and will win it!

Love and Solidarity,

John Nichols 

Executive Editor, The Nation

Ad Policy
x