Maya Angelou Wisdom

Maya Angelou, An African American poet, who has many legacy and dedication through her career as a writer, poet, songwriter, dancer and other. Maya angelou was born as Marguerite Johnson on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. But raised in Stamps, Arkansas, by her paternal Grandmother “Annie Henderson” Ms. Angelou early childhood experiences has been going through a lot of trauma which she the only option were find out motivation to express herself in writing. She died on May 28, 2014 at age of 86 in North Carolina. Thus, Maya Angelou parents, “Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter” were divorced when she was very young, while she attends to grow up in Arkansas with her paternal grandmother. Ms. Angelou father was a Bailey Johnson, was a “brash,

Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option. ~ Dr. Maya Angelou

Throughout life we go through many stepping stones, Maya Angelou's autobiographical essay "Graduation", was about more than just moving on to another grade. The unexpected events that occurred during the ceremony enabled her to graduate from the views of a child to the more experienced and sometimes disenchanting views of an adult. Upon reading the story there is an initial feeling of excitement and hope which was quickly tarnished with the abrupt awareness of human prejudices. The author vividly illustrates a rainbow of significant mood changes she undergoes throughout the story.

In Spite of the devastating history of segregation in the United States. A lot has changed in the past fifty years since segregation ended. The United States shifted from arresting African Americans for using “white only” facilities to integrated schools all over the country. Influential individuals such as Rosa Parks and Martin Luther King Jr helped pave the way for African Americans to live as equals to along with their white counterparts in the United States of America.

“You have tried to destroy me and although I perish daily I shall not be moved,” (Angelou, 2014), says Maya Angelou in her Commencement speech to the 1992 Spelman College graduates. Poet and award-winning author, Maya Angelou, is most well known for her poetry, essay collection, and memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou happened to be the first black female cable car conductor who later started a career in theatre and music (Maya Angelou: Poet and Historian, n.d.). Once her acting and musical career began to take off, Angelou began touring with productions and released her first album Miss Calypso (Maya Angelou Fast Facts, 2017). Later, Angelou earned a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away and an Emmy Award nomination for the work she performed in the television mini-series Roots (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Angelou was also the first African American woman to have her screenplay produced (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). Out of the number of poetry collections Angelou published, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die happened to be her most famous collection that was also nominated for the Pulitzer Prize (Maya Angelou: Poet, Civil Rights Activist, Author, Activist, 2017). The focus of this paper is to critique Angelou’s credibility, sincerity, and appeal to her whole audience in her delivery during the Spelman Commencement Address in 1992.

The evolution of the African Americans is inspiring. Of course, our founding fathers and revolutionary patriots are motivating, but what the new negro wave did was awe-inspiring. Those intellectuals, artists, and writers were all underdogs. Society didn’t expect them to amount to much; nevertheless, the new negros prevailed and left their mark of the Harlem Renaissance, which is still underrated. The manner in which the African Americans took a stand is also incredible. They used art, literature, and music as propaganda to stand up against society’s depreciative view of blacks. Violence was not used by the African Americans, which only proves how properly civilized they were, contrary to the societal

Racial differences is one of the most common reasons why most disturbances and conflicts happens in our world. The African-American race seems to be dealing with this issue for a very long period of time. Between the early 1900’s and the 1960’s three very influential  individuals looked to change the mindset of the African-Americans in their time and establish their way of equality and equity. Where three different mindsets and ideas all with the common goal of raising the average African-Americans human value and worth higher. The oppression of the people of their own race fueled their drive to make a difference. A change was a must and these three individuals I will be talking about were the catalysts behind a movement they believe was going to accomplish that common goal. From Marcus Garvey and his ideas of unifying all African-Americans to their new and own government and nationalism. Then to Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King and their two different approach in the new wave of racial discriminatory actions in the country but unrecognizable similar ideas. All looking to provide a racial freedom and justice for their people and everyone not giving those opportunities.

Although most of my knowledge is centralized around contemporary movements, I find historical movements to be powerful, serving as the spearheads in shaping the culture of social change. I believe that in being African American, I am inevitably affected by the history of oppression against black individuals (whether that be emotionally or directly). With this, I feel as though these experiences and observations throughout time has allowed me to see an injustice in its truest form. It has allowed me to empathize with others who are experiencing different kinds of discrimination. One attribute that I value so much in people is the ability to have an open mind about issues and opinions that do not side with your own. I find this to be pivotal, because it means that an individual does not need to be directly affected by an injustice in order to be able to put themselves in the shoes of

Through an examination of the female experience, Maya Angelou's Still I Rise (1978) and Anne Sexton's Her Kind (1960) utilise the authors' individual styles to inspire and shape our understanding of oppression and empowerment. In the difference in presentation of their common themes, the implications of different styles are shaped. Though there are similarities between the poets, it is the way they choose to utilise literary devices that creates a text that resonates with the audience in different ways.

"Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option", that was one of Maya Angelou's quotes. She was an amazing person. Maya has had lots of jobs, and she was pretty good at them too. She was a writer and a couple other things. Maya Was great friends with some people who have changed a lot.

Take a look around you. Imagine the world now, then again from fifty to a hundred and fifty years ago. Much has changed and much has stayed the same. Plenty of issues that were prevalent so long ago are still lingering around today such as racism, discrimination, white supremacy. We fight constant battles fighting these issues whether its educating others or defending ourselves from it. It was only one hundred and one years ago that we saw D.W. Griffiths Birth of a Nation hit the silver screens. This film changed America, it set a different tone and look for people of color, more specifically black Americans.

Leadership and Legacy Maya Angelou Tiavounta Hudson Thesis Even though Maya Angelou had several problems in her life she overcame them and became successful, she became a civil rights activist and she also wrote poems and books that inspired people to become writers and many more other things. Background In the late 1950's the civil rights movement begins,The civil rights movement was about racial discrimination and the segregation between African American people and white people. African American people didn't have much to do or an opportunity to do many things,like there wasn't a lot of African American women as writers.

“…I say to you today, my friends, so even though we face the difficulties of today and tomorrow, I still have a dream, it is a dream deeply rooted in the American dream. I have a dream that one day this nation would rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed “We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal…” (MLK Jr. I have a dream) Martin Luther King Jr, spoke of the injustice of African Americans and their inhuman treatment, a speech that if it were given today would ring just as true as when it was given over half a century ago. While America has advanced exponentially it’s long blood-soaked history of color bias and decimation against African Americans has remained virtually unaffected. The dark and shameful period of American

Life is a giant curveball and can sometimes cause a person to go through a bottomless pit of stress and depression. People who allow worrisome events in life linger in their mind only set the future for themselves up for a negative never ending cycle. Temporary mourning and negative thoughts are healthy for the body; this allows the mind to be emptied rather than bottling all feeling inside letting it overwhelm you. In the bible it says “Greater things are yet to come” and I feel that this quote fits perfectly with the Maya Angelou quote. With greater things to come why would you let a negative part in your life interfere with your other adventures, as Maya Angelou says. When reading this quote, I connected with it instantly through the

Many people around the world face many life problems and hard situations such as war, poverty, hunger and even racial discrimination, but despite these circumstances there are person who overcame on these crises and succeeded in their lives and became famous character in their communities and countries. If we turn back a bit and look at the history of America, we will find a lot of the issues and concerns that were there, and during that time in American History were African Americans who were outcastes and oppressed from the white American society. African American was suffering from racism just because their skins’ type, so they didn’t have freedom of expression or even the rights to vote. However, there was a young man who fought for his