The Power in a Woman During the late 1950's and early 60's, a movement arose called the Civil Rights Movement. The Civil Rights Movement made great strides in ending racial segregation and inequality. One of the greatest and most influential figures in the Civil Rights Movement was Maya Angelou. She has lived an eventful life, working as a poet, author, teacher, playwright, actor, a strong mother, and an influential human rights activist. The stories she wrote about her experience have made the people who read them feel strong and motivated. Her influential poems and stories and her activism in human rights had a role in changing the world, in terms of ending racial segregation and the progression of the Women's Rights Movement. Maya Angelou …show more content…
faced many hardships in her early life. In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she vividly portrays the struggles of her early life. Angelou describes that at the age of three, her parents divorced and with her brother, she was sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother. They made the trip with a porter, but that porter abandoned them in Arizona and the children were forced to make the trip to Stamps alone. Her grandmother owned the only store in the black section of Stamps and was a respected community figure. Angelou would soon consider her a mother figure and call her Momma. Considering that they were black and lived during the Great Depression, her Momma was financially well off. Momma would serve the black cotton workers lunches and Angelou noticed how in the mornings the workers would be happy and full of energy, but by the end of the day they would be drained and depressed. As a result of the harsh work and unfair pay, the workers were drained of their energy. This portrays how black people were forced to only get manual labor jobs and receive less pay because of it. Angelou would begin to love reading, especially Shakespeare, however she would feel guilty because Shakespeare was a white man. Even at a young age, because of segregation she felt a resentment toward white people. Angelou was teased and called ugly, which affected her self-esteem. Being a girl, people only focused on her looks instead of the intellect inside her. She began associating white with beauty, which shows the affects racism can have on a person's outlook on themselves. She struggled to feel at home and felt lost even in the black community in Stamps, because she got sent away from her parents at the age of three. Momma tried to set an example for Maya and her brother. One day, three white girls approached the store and mock and tease Momma, trying to get a rise out of her. However, Momma would not sink to their level and kept calm throughout the display of mockery, showing them respect. Angelou goes on to say "She didn't cotton to the idea that whitefolks could be talked to at all without risking one's life." This idea probably stems down from her childhood and from slavery because if a black did talk back to white people during slavery they were literally risking their life. A year later her father came and told her that he is taking them St. Louis. Her father seems like he is trying to make an impression on her, by acting like a middle class man when he actually is just a porter. Maya feels like she is surrounded by strangers when getting to St. Louis. Mr. Freeman, her mother's boyfriend, raped her. Mr. Freeman would only spend one day in prison, before, most likely, her uncles had him killed. She begins to blame herself for his death and goes mute because of it. When she returned to Stamps, she meets a woman named Mrs. Flowers who helped Angelou break out of her shell. She tells her to read out loud, and gives her a poem to memorize. These poems allowed her to speak again. After some time, Maya is with her father and his girlfriend Dolores. Dolores begins to feel like Maya is coming between them and an altercation ensues between Maya and Dolores, where Maya gets stabbed. After instead of taking Maya to the hospital to treat the wound, her father takes her to a friend's house. He does not take her to the hospital because of personal embarrassment and this shows his selfishness and inability to be a father. Angelou experiences the most growth in her later teenage years. She lived in a junkyard for a month were she had interactions with people of different races. Maya begins to accept diversity because of her experiences in the junk yard. Through her determination, she also became the first black street car conductor. As a result of the experiences in Angelou's young life, such as viewing the working conditions of the black cotton workers and hearing the white girls mocking Momma, she grew a resentment and hate towards white people. Additionally Maya Angelou was a prominent civil right activist. In her fourth autobiographical piece, The Heart of a Woman, she has become more active in protest rallies and ending racial segregation. After listening to Martin Luther King Jr. speak she becomes inspired and help produce a fundraiser for King's Southern Christian Leadership Conference, which was a civil rights organization. Kings trust in Angelou to help produce a fundraiser reveals Angelou's abilities to move people with her words and make a difference. In her next book All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, she moves to Ghana to reclaim her roots and she attempts to redefine herself as African instead of American. She was trying to escape American racism by moving to Ghana, but she did not feel well adjusted there. She ended up shying away from King's ideas of peace and unity and started to share the same ideology as Malcolm X. Malcolm X believed that there should be a complete separation of black people and white people. As a result of Malcolm's charismatic voice, American racism, and her early childhood, she warms to the same ideas as Malcolm X. However she ends up accepting herself and her racial history. In an interview with visionary project she reflects on Malcolm X saying, "Malcolm having said that all whites were blue eyed devils, he went to Mecca, and he came to West Africa and he said I have met white skin blue eyed men who I have openly called brother, I was wrong." This showed the dramatic change Malcolm X had, where now he saw that whites and blacks can be equal and this also affected Maya Angelou's views because of how highly she respected him, making her also believing equality and peace between black and white people in America was possible. Additionally, Angelou expresses her views on vulgarity and how to have courage against racism in an interview with Oprah Winfrey. Winfrey recalls an incident at Angelou's house were someone made a racist homosexual joke and on the other side of the house Angelou stopped the party and told the person to excuse themselves from the party. Angelou responds to the language by saying, "its vulgarity and poison." She says that those type of words are used to make a person feel less than human and that is why its poison. When Winfrey goes on to ask Angelou, "where did you get the courage to not allow it in your space?" Angelou replies, "you develop courage." She believes to gain courage a person has to start small and eventually they will gain the courage to say what is on their mind. This demonstrates her as a respectable role model to people, by showing them to stand up to racism and to not be afraid. Angelou has expressed most of her beliefs and ideologies in her poems.
On the television show Iconoclasts, she has a conversation with comedian Dave Chappelle on her writing process. She says that she has to go in a room by herself and cleanse her thought. She has to get rid of everything that is on her mind to begin writing. Angelou might be most known for reciting her poem, On the Pulse of Morning, at Bill Clintons presidential inauguration. She captivates and moves the audience with her poem. She tries to get the point across that we are all humans and equal and to make way for change and renewal of American society. She goes on to say, "History, despite its wrenching pain, cannot be unlived, and if faced with courage, need not be lived again." She is trying to tell everyone to accept the past because that is the only way someone can progress and change for the better. She ends the poem with a strong point by saying, "You may have the grace to look up and out and into your sister's eyes, into your brother's face, your country and say simply very simply with hope good morning." Angelou believes that with small steps people can treat each other as family and not the enemy. As a result of this poem being at the presidents inauguration, millions of Americans were able to absorb Angelou's wisdom and gain hope for a better
future. As in most of Angelou's poems, in Still I Rise she tells the reader to have courage and strength to overcome their adversities. She repeats "I Rise." throughout the poem to emphasize the importance of getting back up when pushed down. Throughout the poem Angelou addresses the reader as you to make the poem feel personal to the reader. She shows her confidence in herself when she says, "Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?" because diamonds are considered valuable and are for the rich, so she carries herself as if she is something valuable. This is like most of her poems in the way that it gives hope to the reader and a powerful message. The reader will feel motivated to overcome their obstacle and rise again. Maya Angelou holds great power with her words. She has a strong tone and is trying to empower someone through her writing. Angelou's poem Phenomenal Woman, serves to empower all women who read it to accept themselves as who they are and not of what others think. The message she is trying to get across is that what makes you beautiful is not your physical attractiveness, but the way you carry yourself and the intellect within you. Just like in Still I Rise Angelou's Phenomenal Woman uses repetition, such as, "I’m a woman phenomenally. phenomenal woman, that’s me." to make the reader go away from gender stereotypes and accept themselves for who they and become proud of it. Maya Angelou has lived an eventful life. She was a prominent figure during the Civil Rights Movement that sparked change through the power of her words. She is truly an important asset to society and influential human rights activist. Her poems have been used to empower and give hope to many who read them. Angelou is revered by many and will go down in the history books as an important person who had a great influence on the many people who have read her works.
In 1970, a child with skinny legs and muddy skin was introduced into African American literature. Born marguerite Johnson she became known as Maya Angelou (Lupton 51). Her critically acclaimed works have changed the way of the African American autobiography is written.
She did not complain about her childhood, racism, divorce, losing her friends, or rejection. She has overcome all the obstacles with courage; that is another lesson we can learn. In her poem, she says, “You may shoot me with your words, you may cut me with your eyes, you may kill me with your hatefulness, but still, like air, I’ll rise!” Angelou knew who she was. She learned not to live according to people’s opinions.
"I had decided that St. Louis was a foreign country. In my mind I had only stayed there for a few weeks. As quickly as I understood that I had not reached my home, I sneaked away to Robin's Hood's Forest and the caves of Alley Oop where all reality was unreal and even that changed my day. I carried the same shield that I had used in Stamps: 'I didn't come to stay.'"
"Angelou, Maya (née Marguerite Annie Johnson)." Encyclopedia of African-american Writing. Amenia: Grey House Publishing, 2009. Credo Reference. Web. 12 March 2014.
She was known worldwide for many things. She was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry. She was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She was and still is a woman that people look up to. Many people know her as Maya Angelou.
As Maya Angelou, a civil rights activist, memoirist, and American poet, once said, “I think a hero is any person really intent on making this a better place for all people”. There are myriad of traits that a hero possesses, but one trait that differentiates a civilian from a hero is altruism; it is defined as the “unselfish regard for or devotion to the welfare of others” by Merriam-Webster. There are scads of heroes who possess benevolence such as Odysseus, Harriet Tubman, Clara Barton, and Cesar Chavez. Odysseus is an epic hero in Homer’s Odyssey, Harriet Tubman is known for freeing hundreds of slaves from their masters, Clara Barton had nursed wounded soldiers, and Cesar Chavez had protested the injustice farm workers faced. Altruism is the fundamental trait that deems a person to be considered heroic for it is displayed by all heroes and is the foremost reason for a hero’s actions to aid others.
I had always lived it. There was an army of adults, whose motives and movements I just couldn’t understand and who made no effort to understand mine,” (74). After Mr. Freeman assaults her the first time, he tells her he would kill Bailey if she ever told anyone about what he did. At this time, she wasn’t able to comprehend what had happened and why the consequences of informing someone about it were so harsh. Earlier she states, “He held me so softly that I wished he wouldn’t ever let me go.
The early 1930’s a time where segregation was still an issue in the United States it was especially hard for a young African American girl who is trying to grow and become an independent woman. At this time, many young girls like Maya Angelou grew up wishing they were a white woman with blond hair and blue eyes. That was just the start of Angelou's problems though. In the autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou goes into great depth about her tragic childhood, from moving around to different houses, and running away and having a child at the age of 16. This shows how Maya overcame many struggles as a young girl.
Marguerite Ann Johnson more commonly known today as “Maya Angelou is an American author and poet” (absolute astronomy, web). She was a key component in the civil rights movement and worked alongside figureheads Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In the course of her lifetime she has held several different occupations some of which being a “poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Angelou has received over 50 honorary degress, and is a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University.” (Maya Angelou official website) In 1969 one of Angelou’s most notable works I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was published. This semi biographical work caused her to gain fame “as a spokesperson for the black community and more specifically black women.” (starglimpse, web)
... all audiences can face their personal hardships. No matter the color of your skin or gender, Maya Angelou’s works are timeless testaments to the potential of the human spirit to overcome adversity, and constant reminders that even if the world is against us, we must still rise.
Marguerite Ann Johnson, commonly known as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She is a famous African-American poet, novelist, and playwright and also worked during the civil rights: "Angelou is a very remarkable Renaissance woman who hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature" (www.mayaangelou.com). She is also an activist in civil-rights. Angelou went through many controversies during her childhood and adulthood; her romantic life was never joyful and there are questions that come consecutively in my mind: how does Angelou's "Artful Pose" demonstrates the attitude toward writing of her poetry? How "In a Time" does reveal Angelou's ambivalence to love?
Maya Angelou is an author and poet who has risen to fame for her emotionally filled novels and her deep, heartfelt poetry. Her novels mainly focus on her life and humanity with special emphasis on her ideas of what it means to live. The way she utilizes many different styles to grab and keep readers’ attention through something as simple as an autobiography is astounding. This command of the English language and the grace with which she writes allows for a pleasant reading experience. Her style is especially prominent in "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", where the early events of Angelou’s life are vividly described to the reader in the postmodern literary fashion.
Society creates the thought of what makes an ideal woman; however, Maya Angelou shows us what truly makes an authentic woman in her poem, “Phenomenal Woman.” The word “Phenomenal” is defined as something that is magnificent, remarkable, breathtaking, as well as extraordinary. This poem illustrates confidence and beauty from within, instead of the conventional view that society tends to have, which only focuses on the appearance. She shows how to acknowledge womanhood. One is able to appreciate the poem, even further, by analyzing many of the poetry elements that Maya Angelou illustrates, such as imagery, tone, and diction.
It’s about confidence in oneself. Maya Angelou had a very hard upbringing, poverty, and rape at a young age. She was a victim of discrimination, abuse by men, and even turning to prostitution. She rebounded by finding the confidence and self-worth in herself. This poem is about how even though you may not be a classic beauty, your beauty lies in you and is exuded in being confident and the ability to believe in yourself.
It is said that when we look in the mirror, we see our reflection; but what is it that we really see? Some people look through the glass and see a totally different person. All across the world identity is an issue that many women have. Woman today must be skinny, tall, thick, fair skinned and have long hair in order to be considered beautiful. Maya Angelou feels otherwise, as she gives women another way to look at themselves through her poem "Phenomenal Woman".