'And Still I Rise'
On the amazing life of Maya Angelou
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The 28th of May sees the tenth anniversary of the death of Maya Angelou. I thought this was the perfect time to reflect back on the life and work of this iconic writer and activist, who inspired the lives of so many.
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson on 4th April 1928 in St Louis, Missouri. Her parents had a tumultuous marriage, later divorcing, whereupon the young Marguerite and her older brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their paternal grandmother- ‘Momma’- and Uncle Willie in rural Stamps, Arkansas, where they ran the local store.
In the first volume of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou recalls travelling to Stamps with her older brother Bailey when they were just three and four years of age respectively, wearing wrist tags to alert strangers that they were travelling alone from Long Beach, California to Stamps, Arkansas. A porter charged with their welfare got off the train in Arizona the following day, and their tickets were pinned to Bailey’s inside coat pocket.
Whilst Momma ruled the children with strict discipline, the young Angelou adored her, and the time spent in Stamps became a stable home life for the siblings. Her brother Bailey was her hero; smart and handsome, she loved spending time with him as a child.
It was her beloved brother Bailey who gave her the nickname “Maya”, for which she would later become known to the world.
Angelou was an early reader, memorising the works of Shakespeare from a young age, and wrote essays, poetry, and a journal throughout her childhood. Her interest in poetry was also fostered at this time.
Whilst briefly living back at her mother’s house, Angelou, aged almost eight, was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. When she reported this, the man was subsequently sent to jail, but was later released and murdered, leaving Angelou mute from the trauma for several years, later writing about this in her first volume of autobiography. Many schools attempted to ban the book on its release due to Angelou’s open depiction of sexual abuse, but the book was credited for helping abuse survivors to tell their own stories.
Angelou later attended George Washington High School, exploring her interest in dance and drama, taking courses at the California Labour School. When WWII broke out however, she applied to join the Women’s Army Corps, but her application was subsequently rejected, citing the California Labour School’s connections to Communism. She was however determined to work, despite only being 15 years of age, and applied for a position as a streetcar conductor, as many male conductors had joined the services.
Angelou was initially barred from applying to the role due to her race, but she was determined to succeed, spurred on by her mother. Every day for three weeks, she continued to request a job application; each day this was denied.
Finally, her determination and pure doggedness paid off: she was accepted for the position after lying about her age, becoming the first African American woman to work as a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Angelou remained in the position for a semester, before returning to school, graduating in the summer of 1944. Soon after graduation, however, Angelou gave birth to her first and only child, Clyde Bailey Johnson (known as ‘Guy’).
Following graduation and the birth of her son, Angelou moved to San Francisco to live with her mother, and undertook a series of jobs to support herself and her newborn son including a cocktail waitress, a prostitute and madam, a cook, and finally, a dancer.
She married Tosh Angelos in 1949, an electrician in the US Navy, and adopted a form of his surname, which she kept throughout her life, although the couple divorced in 1952.
In the late 1950s, Angelou moved to New York City and became involved with the Harlem Writers Guild, a group of African American writers who helped to nurture and support the publication of Black writers. She also became an active member of the Civil Rights Movement, and performed in a production of Porgy and Bess, touring Europe and Africa.
Her first volume of autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in 1969, and details her early life between her mother’s home and her life in Arkansas.
Within this first volume, Angelou explores the racism she witnessed whilst living in rural Arkansas, growing angry and passionate about the ways in which her grandmother was treated by the ‘poor white trash’ children of the town. She often questions in the book why her grandmother allows herself to be spoken to in such a way, when she is so strict with herself and her brother.
But Momma comes into her own when it comes to protecting her charges. In a shocking incident where the local dentist refuses to treat the young Marguerite’s toothache, she imagines the conversation that takes place behind closed doors whereby her grandmother ‘convinces’ the dentist that he must treat her granddaughter.
A disturbing incident takes place when the white former sheriff of Stamps warns Momma that the whites are on the warpath because they say a Black man has “messed with” a white woman. Marguerite witnesses Momma hiding Uncle Willie in the potato bins just in case the mob comes to the store looking for a scapegoat to lynch.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
Angelou eventually went on to publish six more volumes of her autobiography: Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a Woman (1981), All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002), and Mom & Me & Mom (2013).
The volumes variously explore the remarkably disparate occurrences in Angelou’s life.
But Angelou was also a talented poet, with poetry collections such as the Pulitzer Prize-nominated Just Give me a Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie and And Still I Rise, as well as several essay collections.
‘You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.’
(For a wonderful live reading of ‘And Still I Rise’ from Maya Angelou, see this clip.)
In the 1960s, Angelou moved to Cairo after a brief marriage to a South African dissident and worked for the Arab Observer. She later also moved to Ghana, working for The African Review, once stating in an interview that she ‘had brought her son to Ghana to protect him from the negative effects of racism.’
She returned to California in the late 1960s, writing Black, Blues, Black, a 10-part television series about the role of African Culture in American life. She later became one of the first African American women to have a screenplay produced as a feature film in 1972 with Georgia, Georgia. Angelou also took acting parts in various films and mini-series, as well as directorial roles.
Angelou’s book Letter to My Daughter is an interesting look at the advice she would give to her daughter should she have one, and includes advice for women everywhere.
“A wise woman wishes to be no one’s enemy; a wise woman refuses to be anyone’s victim.”
Despite no formal college education, Angelou became a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University, Winston-Salem, North Carolina in 1981 (she later went on to receive thirty-three honorary degrees). During her professorship at Wake Forest, she was invited to write and deliver a poem for the inauguration of Bill Clinton in his 1993 inauguration as US President, writing and reciting ‘On the Pulse of Morning’.
She later celebrated the fiftieth anniversary of the United Nations in ‘A Brave and Startling Truth’ as well as celebrating Nelson Mandela in the poem ‘His Day Is Done’, released in the wake of the South African leader’s death.
In 2010, Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama for her inspiring work in the arts. A 2016 documentary entitled Maya Angelou and Still I Rise depicted her life through interviews with Angelou and her close admirers.
“Prejudice is a burden that confuses the past, threatens the future and renders the present inaccessible.”
Maya Angelou died on May 28, 2014, aged 86. In the words of Barack Obama, she was ‘A truly phenomenal woman’. Talented, generous, and inspiring, her memoirs, poetry, and activism provided a rallying call of the need for strength, kindness, and resilience in the face of all kinds of discrimination.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the only book of hers I have read and it was quite a few years ago. I think I need to revisit her work at some point.
The progress of her life parallels the ongoing struggle of Black people in America to gain dignity, respect and equality in all facets of existence.