Revolutionary is based on a photograph of political activist and professor Angela Davis speaking at a rally in spring 1970, published in Life magazine on September 11 of that year in an article titled “The Making of a Fugitive.” At the time, Davis was fleeing a warrant for her arrest in connection with the murder of a prison guard, a story that captured national attention. (She was later arrested, tried, and, in 1972, found not guilty).

This screenprint was made by the artist while he was teaching at Howard University in 1972. Jarrell changed the source image by clothing Davis in artist Jae Jarrell’s Revolutionary Suit and adding words from Davis’s speeches that radiate from her face.