Maya Angelou

The life experiences of the late Maya Angelou —author, poet, actress, singer, dancer, playwright, director, producer — became the key element of her most prominent work, a lyrical poet telling the stories of what it means to be an African American; having a wide range, multi-series autobiographies that lays the foundation of her identity as a American black woman. The acclaimed Maya Angelou’s legacy not only impacted American culture that will resonate with people through history, but create insight to a whole new world.

Maya Angelou was an inspiring activist, poet, and woman. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. Throughout her lifetime she explored her career options as an actress, dancer, singer, writer, and editor among many other careers. Angelou had a tough childhood. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she was sent to live with her grandmother in Arkansas along with her brother Bailey. As an African American, Angelou experienced discrimination and racial prejudices. Angelou gave birth to her son Guy, at the age of sixteen and married her first husband Tosh Angelos, at the age of twenty-four. Angelou and Tosh divorced years later however, she did get married a couple of more times. Angelou experienced many

Marguerite Johnson, known as Maya Angelou, was not only famous for writing poetry but she also served as a Civil Rights Activist. Her other occupations were being an actress, dancer, including an exotic dancing (Maya Angelou Is Born), and an author. When she was working at the strip club a theatre group which help her with her acting career. They helped her get a role in the infamous Porgy and Bess and Calypso Heat Wave (Maya Angelou Biography). Around that time, she started producing albums, which later got her a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Audio version, writing biographies, poetry. Later, in her adult life, she won two NAACP image awards, Emmy award, for the mini-series Roots, and three Grammy’s (Maya Angelou Biography). Unfortunately, She

A hero is a person who is admired for great or brave acts or fine qualities. Maya Angelou disregarded expectations and the wants of the real world in order to show society women in her time period can conquer. Coming from such a pressuring background she still proved whatever a person puts their mind to, they can do. Maya Angelou is known intentionally because of her wonderful talents: poetry, singing, writing songs, dancing, and playwright; in which, she has blessed many hearts with these impossibly great inspirations. A hero is someone who stands out in their own way without caring for an approval like Maya Angelou.

When it comes to the struggles of a black woman, Maya Angelou is one of the best writers to interpret these struggles and to have the ability to put them into books and poems. The way Maya Angelou writes just makes you feel as if you were with here through all of the pain and sorrow. Not a lot of authors have the ability to do such a thing. Maya Angelou has the ability to write all of these amazing books and poems because of her past experiences. Although Maya Angelou went through struggles in her life, her powerful poems and stories have affected literature worldwide

Maya Angelou employs the use of narrative elements, such as conflict, setting, and plot to develop a theme of identity in her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou utilizes elements of conflict to illustrate Maya’s sense of individuality and background, creating a theme of identity. For example, as Maya goes to work for Mrs. Cullinan, her employer renames her, much to Maya’s discontent. Maya’s individuality stands out well in these series of events, as she declares, “My name wasn’t Mary,” shortly after performing a rebellious act (Angelou 111).

Maya Angelou grew up in the American South and faced a lot of racism, sexism and betrayal. When she was in her 40s, Maya wrote a book about how hard it was and how people treated her because of her ethnicity. Maya Angelou's book has a massive value, since it touches important and meaningful topics such as civil rights, Black Motherhood, independence, importance of family, dignity and self definition, which is why the book became a huge inspiration for many people.

The poem speaks out to women as far as of where they are in society. The poem reminds women that they are filled with beauty and strength and they should love themselves for who they are. "I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size," says Angelou. In this poem, she doesn't spare the painful details of blacks. Instead, she gives them hope (Cookson). Every woman should be filled with joy, confidence, and wisdom in her as well to challenge the stereotypes of what makes a phenomenal woman. Just like "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", Maya again not only writes about the discrimination of blacks, but about all women. "When we hear this poem, we listen to ourselves" (Sylvester). Surrounded by music her whole life, like a blues singer, Angelou sings the suffering of black women and their indomitable spirit ("Explanation of…Angelou"). She writes, "When you see me passing it ought to make you proud." A great influence on her charisma in this poem is her occupation as a performer. Working as an exotic dancer and showing off her body all the time, Maya accepted who she was ("Explanation of…Angelou"). The theme of this poem is self-confidence, and how Angelou has hope in each and every insecure woman out there. She uses a sassy, assertive tone in this poem also. For example, she says "I'm a woman./ Phenomenally" This sense of anger is seen in the previous poem, too. In addition, she uses a strong, straightforward rhyme in her poetry (Cookson).

One event which impacted me was the shocking, heartbreaking death of Emmett Till, a 14-year-old African American boy, who whistled at a white woman, violating the Jim Crow Laws the husband of the women abducted him from his uncle’s house, after beating him they shot him to death and threw his body Tallahatchie River, which sparked international outrage and fuelled civil rights arguments. This story outlines how disgraceful the discrimination was towards the African American population. With Jim Crow laws, Bus boycotts and the Klu Klux Klan, Maya Angelou felt that the only way to make a difference was through literature and music. With this poem mainly being about Race, it also can be interpreted about gender, which makes it universal to all audiences. Everyone interprets poetry based on his or her own experiences and heartaches, I am going to assume that every single person in this room has at one time in their lives felt different, excluded, or not

Initially, Maya Angelou’s poems left me conflicted. They are a testament to her frequent themes of African American history “and now I’ll tell you my Golden Rule I don’t mind work but I ain’t no mule”, love “love, by nature, exacts a pain unequaled on the rack”, painful loss, overcoming hardships, perseverance and most assuredly holding on to hope “just like hopes springing high”. As a caucasian girl living in a relatively affluent suburb in comfort, I feel such gratitude for the gifts I’ve been granted, but I also have guilt. Maya Angelou’s poetry reminds me of my opportunities and my own strength to make a change in the world; “but still like life I rise”. This poetry sample is most often targeted toward African

The common themes and beliefs of differences and similarities are upheld throughout the texts are presented differently but founded on similar thinking in several ways. The author of the poem, Maya Angelou, presents her thinking with the use of repetition and comparison while the author of the speech, Barack Obama, presents his thoughts with the use of an anecdote or short story. These authors use different techniques to identify themes of equality and similarities despite our differences, but have similar thinking.

In Maya Angelou’s poem “Human Family,” she focused on how everyone perceived families. Many people think that all families are different, but Maya Angelou thought different. She wanted her reader to know that yes everyone is different, but we are all the same in many ways. Maya Angelou mentioned that as humans we all are different, whether it is our skin tone, where we live, and even our social class. She wanted her reader to understand that although we do not look the same or have the same things we still have things in commons as humans.

Maya Angelou. Famous poet, actress, screenwriter, dancer, and civil rights activist. Maya’s childhood wasn’t the best, having her parents separated at a young age removing her father from her life. She was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri and died on May 28, 2014, in Winston Salem, North Carolina due to a heart failure. She and her brother Bailey were sent to live in Stamps, Arkansas. Her first few months were very difficult to her when she experienced racial prejudice. She chose to live in Arkansas with her mother soon after the separation. There, On top of being an outsider due to her skin tone, she suffered too in being sexually harassed by her mother’s boyfriend at the age of 7. When her uncle's found out, they killed him.

“My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style.”(Angelou 1). Maya Angelou was an amazing woman. Although she had a difficult childhood, she grew up to be and outstanding woman. She was the first Black woman to do many things, including the first black woman director in Hollywood.

All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes is Maya Angelou’s, who happens to be the author, personal account of her experience as she travels back to Africa in an attempt at fulfilling the feeling of ‘home’ she is looking for. In the autobiography Angelou speaks on the issues of racism and cultural differences between both the Ghanaians and the Americans within the country. The book gives an eye opening view of the times during the Civil Rights Movement and the key people during that time, while looking into the ancestry of the people who were so wrongly taken from their own place they call own. Another important issue that is presented to the reader is the exploration of African, as well as, African- American identities throughout the book.