Longtime civil rights activist and former University of California professor Angela Davis joined Jackson State University Professor Ebony Lumumba for a conversation at Tougaloo College in Jackson, Mississippi, on Jan. 28. She spoke about growing up in Alabama during the Jim Crow era and connected the struggles of the past to the present, but told the audience that as the world changes, “new strategies are needed.”

Davis, a well-known activist in the 1960s and 1970s who was part of the Black Panther Party, urged the audience to “create significance” in their lives by focusing beyond themselves and “becoming much larger than we are.”

Here are some photos from the event.

Angela Davis, moderated by Ebony Lumumba, listens to an audience member
Angela Davis, a feminist political activist, academic, author, and an iconic Black power activist (left), joins moderator Ebony Lumumba at a lecture series at Tougaloo College, in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. MFP Photo by Rogelio V. Solis
An audience sits in a college auditorium and listens to Angela Davis speak
Angela Davis, a feminist political activist, academic, author, and an iconic Black power activist, left, joins moderator Ebony Lumumba at a lecture series at Tougaloo College, in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (MFP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
An audience member recording Angela Davis speak
An attendee uses her cellphone to record Angela Davis, a feminist political activist, academic, author, and an iconic Black power activist, speaking at Tougaloo College, in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (MFP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)
A close up of Angela Davis's face, framed by curly silver hair
Angela Davis, a feminist political activist, academic, author, and an iconic Black power activist, speaks at Tougaloo College, in Jackson, Miss., Wednesday, Jan. 28, 2026. (MFP Photo/Rogelio V. Solis)

Rogelio V. Solis is Mississippi Free Press' new senior photojournalist. A veteran journalist, Solis most recently served 28 years as the staff photographer with the Jackson bureau of The Associated Press.