Angela Davis

Implicated in a failed attempt to assist in the escape of a prisoner from a California courtroom, African-American activist, philosopher, and college lecturer Angela Davis made the F.B.I.’s Most Wanted List in 1970 before she was arrested, tried, and found innocent by an all-White jury. Enraged, the Governor of California at the time swore she would never teach again in that state. Nevertheless, Davis was eventually named a professor at the University of California at Santa Cruz (in 1991) and then awarded a Presidential chair at that institution in 1995. Not bad, when you consider that she ran for Vice President of the United States in 1980 -- on the Communist ticket. In-your-face women are typically very, very good at what they do, even when what they do is considered irritating to many.