Party Press Conference: Gus Hall (left), General Secretary of the Communist Party USA, speaks at a press conference Wednesday in Chicago. Communist activist Angela Davis is at right. The party begins a four-day national convention on Thursday.

Angela Davis (1944-present) is an educator and activist who became known for her involvement in a politically-charged murder case in the early 1970s. Influenced by her segregated upbringing in Birmingham, Alabama, Davis joined the Black Panthers and an all-black branch of the Communist Party as a young woman. Davis was charged with aiding the botched escape attempt of the imprisoned black radical George Jackson; she served roughly 18 months in jail before her acquittal in 1972.

On recto: typewritten title and date.
On verso: date stamps and newspaper captions affixed.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Angela Davis
• Chicago
• Civil Rights Movements
• Communist Party National Convention
• Communist Party of America
• Communists
• Gus Hall
• Injustice
• Press Conferences
• Racial Discrimination

• Image Dimensions: 7 1/16 x 9 1/8 in. (17.94 x 23.18 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin
• Sheet Dimensions: 8 1/8 x 10 in. (20.64 x 25.4 cm) Measured by Cornejo-Reynoso, Aitzin