The icon of American culture and world literature died in 2014 at the age of 87. She has worked with several US presidents, including Gerald Ford, Jimmy Carter, Bill Clinton, and Barack Obama. She holds a number of honorary degrees and has taught at the University of North Carolina for many years. She later worked as a screenwriter, poet, and teacher.Īngelou made her mark in many professions, and despite being known as “Doctor Angelou,” she had never attended college. Vivian Baxter, her absent mother, became her staunchest supporter at that point.īut since leaving her mother’s house, Maya has lived many lives and assumed many identities.Īccording to her autobiographies, she was the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco, and she did a stint as a waitress, sex worker, strip club dancer, and calypso music singer. Maya Angelou’s life took a new turn when she became the 16-year-old single mother of a baby boy she named Guy. Little Maya was so fearful of the power of her own words that she went five years without speaking. When she told her family about what had happened, the perpetrator was quickly found dead. Maya was raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was only eight years old. Maya’s life was extraordinary, but numerous traumas marred it.
#MAYA ANGELOU POEMS ABOUT LIFE SKIN#
In her texts, Maya described her daily life as a child in the first person singular, never losing sight of the experiences that came with having a different skin color. She invited all of us to openly talk about gender-based violence, the protection of human rights, love, life, and women’s strength by speaking aloud and discussing hardships and experiences from her personal life and the lives of others publicly. She exposed all her demons by exploring topics such as racism, rape, sexism, isolation, accomplishments, and life crisis, risking the rejection and misunderstanding of critics and the general public. Maya Angelou left a legacy of shatteringly powerful memoirs and verses, transcending genres with her unique style. Her upbringing in the American South and her identity as an African-American woman heavily influenced her distinct narrating techniques and literary expression.
Still curious? Check out: The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.Maya Angelou, a remarkable contemporary poet, and prominent activist in the American civil rights movement was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in 1928. I seem to have known that a long time and found great joy in it. Courage is probably the most important of the virtues, because without courage you cannot practice any of the other virtues, you can’t say against a murderous society, I oppose your murdering.
But more than likely if you do dare, what you get are the marvelous returns.
They may not all be that pleasant, but nobody promised you a rose garden. You must live and life will be good to you, give you experiences. I’ve always had the feeling that life loves the liver of it. In a 1977 interview by journalist Judith Rich, found in Conversations with Maya Angelou, she reflects on the meaning of life and the most important virtue. Sadly it took her passing for me to look a little deeper. I first came across Angelou because of an odd habit she had: she liked to work in dirty hotel rooms. The legendary poet and writer Maya Angelou passed recently at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. “I’ve always had the feeling that life loves the liver of it.”
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