Fania Davis

Fania Davis

Leading National Voice on Restorative Justice

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  Speeches  

Fania Davis, PhD, is a leading national voice on restorative justice. She is a long-time social justice activist, Civil Rights trial attorney, writer, restorative justice practitioner, and educator with a PhD in Indigenous Knowledge. Fania writes and speaks internationally on restorative justice, racial justice, truth processes, and indigeneity.

Fania came of age in Birmingham, Alabama, during the social ferment of the Civil Rights era. The murder of two close childhood friends in the 1963 bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church crystallized within Fania a passionate commitment to social transformation. For the next decades, she was active in the Civil Rights, Black liberation, women's, prisoners', peace, anti-racial violence, economic justice, and anti-apartheid movements. Studying with African Indigenous healers catalyzed Fania’s search for a healing justice, ultimately leading her to serve as Founding Director of Restorative Justice for Oakland Youth (RJOY) and Co-Founding Board Member of the National Association of Community and Restorative Justice (NACRJ).

Her numerous honors include the Ubuntu Award for Service to Humanity, the Dennis Maloney Award for excellence in Youth Restorative Justice, the Black Feminist Shapeshifters and Waymakers’ Award, the Tikkun (Repair the World) Award, the Ella Jo Baker Human Rights Award, and the Ebony POWER 100 Award. The Los Angeles Times named her a New Civil Rights Leader of the 21st Century.

Fania is the author of The Little Book of Race and Restorative Justice: Black Lives, Justice, and U.S. Social Transformation (2019) as well as a range of articles on restorative justice.

Racial Justice and Restorative Justice in a Time of Awakening, Repair, and Reimagining

Interrupting the School to Prison Pipeline Through Restorative Justice

Restorative Justice's Promise: Helping Us Re-Invent What It Means to Be Human

  Topic Areas

Authors
Race/Racial Justice/Racism
Women/Feminism
African Americans/Black
Youth/Student Activism/Leadership
Policing/Prisons/Abolition
Human Rights

  Related Links

Play

Beyond the Bars: Breaking Through 2014 - Fania Davis

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Bay Area People’s Tribunal on the Rights of Nature witness Fania Davis

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"What is Justice?" With Fania Davis and Morris Jenkins

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Captivating and activating!! Experienced- based wisdom and visionary!! Informative and inspirational!!' These are just a few of the words that I use to describe the delivery and impact of Dr. Fania Davis’ public presentations. The magic that is generated whenever she speaks is palpable!! As an academic administrator for close to 25 years, I have had the great fortune to be among many awe-inspiring speakers... and several wonderful ‘doers’. Dr. Davis embodies the best of both. In language that is accessible to a wide range of audiences, Dr. Davis weaves together facts and personal stories as a teacher-activist-spiritual leader. Her eloquence, genuineness, and passion elicit the desire in all of us to be the very best we can be, to join her in doing our part to create a more socially- just world. In sum, any time with Dr. Fania Davis is a gift that one treasures always.
Darlyne Bailey Ph.D., LISW, Professor and Dean Emeritus, Bryn Mawr College

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