Angela Atwood

Infobox revolution biography
name = Angela Atwood
dateofbirth = birth date|1949|2|6
placeofbirth = North Haledon, New Jersey
dateofdeath = death date and age|1974|5|17|1949|2|6
placeofdeath = Los Angeles, U.S.


caption =
alternate name = General Gelina
movement = Symbionese Liberation Army
organizations =

Angela DeAngelis "General Gelina" Atwood was a founding member of the Symbionese Liberation Army (SLA), a domestic terrorist group of the 1970s.

Background

Angela DeAngelis (born 6 February 1949) grew up in the small New Jersey suburb of North Haledon near Paterson. The daughter of a local Teamsters boss, DeAngelis was a member of the Catholic Youth Organization in high school, where she was active in many student leadership groups and was a cheerleader. She attended Indiana University where she met leftwing activist and future husband Gary Atwood. While at school, she also met William and Emily Harris, sang in a sorority group with former NBC anchor Jane Pauley, was involved in theater and majored in education. She graduated in 1970 and began student teaching in Indianapolis.

ymbionese Liberation Army

The Atwoods moved to San Francisco, where Angela befriended Kathleen Soliah (a.k.a. Sara Jane Olson). The two women acted together in a local production of Ibsen's Hedda Gabler. Angela and Gary Atwood separated in June 1973, and Angela moved in with the Harrises. She then joined the SLA along with the Harrises and her new boyfriend, Russell Little.

Atwood's voice is heard on a taped message of March 9, 1974, used in negotiations with Randolph Hearst for the return of Patty Hearst. Atwood assumed the voice of a black woman and said, "The dream - and indeed it is a dream - of [many on the Left] is that the enemy corporate state will willingly give the stolen riches of the earth back to the people and that this will be accomplished through compromising talk and empty words . . . To this, our bullets scream loudly. The enemy's bloodthirsty greed will be destroyed by the growing spirit of the people and their thirst for freedom. We call upon the people to judge for themselves whether our tactics of waging struggle are correct or incorrect in fighting the enemy by any means necessary."Fact|date=May 2008

Atwood was killed in a May 17, 1974 shootout with Los Angeles police, along with five other founding members of the SLA, including Donald DeFreeze. It was Atwood's death that prompted Soliah to hold a memorial service for her and other members of the SLA, which ultimately drew Soliah and a few others into the group, giving the SLA life for two more years.Fact|date=May 2008

References

Persondata
NAME= Atwood, Angela
ALTERNATIVE NAMES=
SHORT DESCRIPTION=
DATE OF BIRTH= February 6, 1949
PLACE OF BIRTH= North Haledon, New Jersey
DATE OF DEATH= May 17, 1974
PLACE OF DEATH= Los Angeles, U.S.