Maya Angelou Rising Above Social Struggles Analysis
Maya Angelou: Rising Above Social Struggles
Author of an autobiographical series, countless essays and stirring poems, a civil rights activist, dedicated actor and producer, skillful dancer and singer, and great cook, Maya Angelou is an inspiration to every person, regardless of his age, gender, race, or status in life. Maya Angelou, an African-American, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but was sent to Stamps, Arkansas, with her brother Bailey, to live with their grandmother (King 5). During her childhood, Stamps, where she was raised, was completely segregated both socially and economically. This meant that Maya and her people would never be able to make their ends meet just as the White people did. Moreover, Maya was with her parents, …show more content…
who once abandoned her, when she experienced sexual assault and perpetual neglect. At the peak of her careers, and even before it, she underwent more difficulties: still from prejudice set upon by appearance to adversities caused by her practices of activism. Although it is undeniable that her road to success was abounding in social struggles: racial discrimination, economic segregation and sexual abuse, Maya still rose and became one of America’s most inspirational women.
In Maya Angelou’s autobiographical writings, she shares her stumbles, falls, and victories (Gillespie et al. 183). I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings presents Maya with low self-worth because of her black skin which she eventually overcame as she learned to appreciate herself. Gather Together In My Name introduces Maya’s new-born son and the new challenges that drowned her yet allowed her courage to triumph. Maya’s third autobiography, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, shows how she, after suffering from poverty and discrimination, could still dance with her family and good music. The Heart of A Woman, like the rest of the series, revolves around race. After Maya encountered prejudice from her white housemates, she developed a new sense of black identity and became a committed civil rights activist (McPherson 91). On the other hand, All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes is centered on Angelou’s inner conflict between her African and American identities (Lupton 139), and how she was directed back to her home, America, by her Ghanaian friends. Certainly, Maya Angelou was a woman of experiences; each experience teaches that although the defeats a person may face are multifold, he must not be defeated (qtd. in Guillespie, et al).
In Stamps, Arkansas, the young Maya Angelou learned what it was to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were placed by whites (Johnson 18). It was during the 1930s in the South, when African-Americans and Caucasians in the United States were not considered equal; state segregation and local regulations became numerous. For example, African-Americans were not allowed to enter a building through the same entrance, and were restricted from whites-only schools, movie theaters, parks, hospitals, and other establishments (Osborne 19). African-Americans and Caucasians were never seen together in the same taxi, bus, or even the same walking lane. Furthermore, available jobs for African-Americans were limited to the lowest form of physical labor, which meant work in the fields, housework, babysitting and cooking (Johnson 10), and the most frightening for blacks during this time was the threat of lynching, most of it done randomly and casually (Johnson 11). The division along the black and white racial lines in Stamps, Arkansas was so rigid that Angelou rarely saw Caucasians; in fact, some African-Americans did not believe that they really existed. Her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, recalls her experience as a southern black girl, tormented by the imprisoning and disheveled socialization, living in the segregated part of town (Bloom 133).
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells the story of Maya Angelou journey from bondage to liberation, as a young African-American (Johnson 35). While Momma, Maya’s grandmother, was the owner of the main store in Stamps, she and her family were still not exempted from the insults and mockery of poor white girls (Bloom 4); they kept calling Momma by her first name which meant disrespect, and one girl even did a handstand exposing her private part directly at Momma’s face. Once again, Angelou suffered from a sense of indignity when a dentist, whom Momma had lent money when he was in danger of losing his practice, refused to examine her, and declared, “I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s” (Bloom 4). During Maya’s 8th grade graduation ceremony, a white man gave a speech wherein not only did he limit what black people could do to cotton-picking, but he also proclaimed that black women were restricted to housekeeping and babysitting; however, she proved him wrong, and destroyed the barrier white men built on African-Americans when she became the first African-American female trolley car conductor to be hired. In her I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou did not only develop from a three-year-old girl to a woman of seventeen, but she undeniably unfolded from a put-down black woman into the master of her fate and captain of her soul (Johnson 43).
As a child, Maya Angelou felt like an outcast in white society because of her race and appearance, but symbols of cruelty were not only white but also black (Johnson 32); nevertheless, Maya still conquered these challenges in the end.
Throughout much of her childhood, Maya remained rejected in a racist society, but she was also abandoned by her mother and father. She might be taken back by her parents after a while, but she was neglected by them, her mother always at gambling parlors, and her father constantly drowning himself in women and parties. For instance, Maya was forced to run away and live alone in abandoned cars because of his father’s irresponsibility. In addition, Maya’s stay in San Francisco turned into nightmare when her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, raped her (King 15). This incident became the reason for Maya’s “voluntary mutism” that lasted for five to six years (Johnson 34), and insecurity about her sexuality. Nonetheless, she overcame these difficulties as she regained her voice through self-education and formal training; she was able to graduate with top honors from the Lafayette Country Training School. Finally, she defeated the psychological consequence of the rape: development of negative images about her body and thoughts about being lesbian, by being able to lure a handsome young man into an experimental sex with her (Johnson 35). Aside from Caucasians, Maya Angelou also endured abandonment, carelessness and brutality, which she eventually …show more content…
surmounted, from her fellow African-Americans.
As Maya started her career in show business and writing, she spoke not only for herself but on behalf of the oppressed.
Maya Angelou was in her early 20s when she had been deprived of good roles in showbiz because people in power always chose white performers; however, Maya was patient and persistent. She was rewarded for her hard work, was chosen to be a member of a musical that would tour Europe (King 32), and the next thing she knew, greater opportunities came pounding on her door (Gillespie, et. al 43). Maya was given the role of the White Queen in Jean Genet’s play, The Blacks, where the colonized imitated their oppressors taking their worst traits. This served as the way for Maya to express her contempt to mean white women and brutal white men who had often injured her and her people (Gillespie et al. 64). Furthermore, Angelou became a member of Harlem Writer’s Guild, where she discussed and debated issues concerning African independence and the Black liberation struggles at home and abroad (Gillespie et. al 49). The freedom train was gathering speed and Angelou was eager to get on board. She and her fellow talents wrote and produced a show, Cabaret for Freedom, to raise money for Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization (Gillespie et. al 55). Through performing and writing, Maya Angelou fought against injustice and abuse not only for herself, but for all the
oppressed.
Maya Angelou was a budding playwright and poet, but the call to activism proved impossible to resist (Gillespie et. al 56). Together with the Harlem Writer’s Guild, she organized the Cultural Association for Women of African Heritage to support the work of all Civil Rights groups. Maya became passionately committed to supporting human rights, and it all started when she witnessed Martin Luther King Jr. rally support the Southern Movement to end segregation (Gillespie et. al 55). While others feared being labeled Communist, along with the Guild, she championed the Cuban Revolution which aimed to overthrow Cuban President Fulgencio Batista and establish a socialist and communist government (Gillespie et. al 57). Additionally, the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa marked the beginning of Maya’s anti-apartheid activism; she attended different gatherings in support of the South African freedom struggle (Gillespie et.al 57). She also became the coordinator of Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity which sought to establish economic independence, and promote African-American self-determination (qtd. in Burnett). Black America was crying and raging in the streets; there were stories that needed to be told, truths calling to be spoken. As a human rights activist, Maya Angelou showed her commitment by bringing Black America to the stage as a playwright and into print as a poet when she joined Theatre of Being and wrote All Day Long, which focused on black people 's struggles to adjust to living in the city (Gillespie et. al 92). Maya Angelou’s activism displayed that her intention to symbolize hope in times of tragedy extended beyond writing and acting.
Maya’s poetry reflects her experiences of being a black woman who, notwithstanding her tumultuous upbringing, was able to not merely survive but triumph. For instance, her poem “Caged Bird” represents the caged bird as herself, trapped and would never be given the opportunity to blossom, while the cage represents people in power and the boundaries they set on her. Here, she also portrays a hope and great future ahead as she tries to sing (Garg):
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
This poem illustrates the inferiority of African-Americans in a society dominated by Caucasians. Although African-Americans endured many injustices, they learned how to use their voice and stand up for their freedom (Swanier). On the other hand, Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” radiates with boldness and self-esteem. This is seen through the repetition of the phrase “I rise” emphasizing her confidence despite the hardships she faced. Maya does not refer to winning over adversities as her dream anymore; in actuality, she says that she has already risen, and that she is now the dream:
Out of the huts of history 's shame
I rise
Up from a past that 's rooted in pain
I rise
I 'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
As Maya wins over her difficulties, she uses this poem to also encourage her readers, especially the maltreated, to fight against all inequities and live with courage instead of fear. Maya Angelou’s poetry cries out her difficulties but also celebrates her victories as a female African-American.
Maya Angelou might have been a singer, dancer, actor, producer activist, and author all at the same time, but her life abounded in social hardships: maltreated because of her skin, sexually violated at the age of seven, and forsaken by her own people. Seeing how Maya prevailed despite her dreadful journey allows us to see the huge possibility of our own victory over adversity (qtd. in Gillespie, et. al). She was someone who tried to be a blessing rather than a curse on the human race (qtd. in Gillespie, et. al). Finally, Maya refused to be boxed in; she always kept stepping, dreaming anew. She believed in the boundless capacity of the human family’s spirit, and the hope and possibility in each and every breath that we take. She wanted the best from us, and from herself, knowing that we struggle, sometimes falter, stumble, and lose our way (Gillespie 153). Her life is a book which lectures us to have the courage to love, to dare to try something new, to step up for ourselves, to seek to explore and achieve our potential (Gillespie et. al 177). The life of Maya Angelou is a gift that teaches us how to live without limits.
*approximately 2000 words
Works Cited List:
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York. Random House, Inc. 1969. Print.
Angelou, Maya. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York. Random House, Inc. 1994. Print.
Burnett, Lucy. “Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).” The Online Reference Guide to African American History. BlackPast.org. Web. 19. Oct. 2014.
Garg, A. “Analysis of Caged Bird - A poem written by Maya Angelou.” Poet and Poem. poetandpoem.com. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Gillespie, Butler, Richard Long. Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. New York. Random House, Inc. 2008. Print.
Grossman, Lev. “Maya Angelou.” Time. 09 June 2014. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
King. Sarah. Maya Angelou: Greeting The Morning. United States. The Millbrook Press. 1994. Print.
Lupton, Mary Jane. Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. London. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 1998. Print.
McPherson, Dolly. Order Out of Chaos: The Autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou. New York. Peter Lang Publishing. 1990. Print.
Osborne, Linda. Miles to Go For Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years. Library of Congress. 2012. Print.
Swanier, Jordan. “Caged Bird by Maya Angelou: Interpretative Essay.” Swanier English. sites.google.com. N/A. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.
Author of an autobiographical series, countless essays and stirring poems, a civil rights activist, dedicated actor and producer, skillful dancer and singer, and great cook, Maya Angelou is an inspiration to every person, regardless of his age, gender, race, or status in life. Maya Angelou, an African-American, was born in St. Louis, Missouri, but was sent to Stamps, Arkansas, with her brother Bailey, to live with their grandmother (King 5). During her childhood, Stamps, where she was raised, was completely segregated both socially and economically. This meant that Maya and her people would never be able to make their ends meet just as the White people did. Moreover, Maya was with her parents, …show more content…
who once abandoned her, when she experienced sexual assault and perpetual neglect. At the peak of her careers, and even before it, she underwent more difficulties: still from prejudice set upon by appearance to adversities caused by her practices of activism. Although it is undeniable that her road to success was abounding in social struggles: racial discrimination, economic segregation and sexual abuse, Maya still rose and became one of America’s most inspirational women.
In Maya Angelou’s autobiographical writings, she shares her stumbles, falls, and victories (Gillespie et al. 183). I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings presents Maya with low self-worth because of her black skin which she eventually overcame as she learned to appreciate herself. Gather Together In My Name introduces Maya’s new-born son and the new challenges that drowned her yet allowed her courage to triumph. Maya’s third autobiography, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, shows how she, after suffering from poverty and discrimination, could still dance with her family and good music. The Heart of A Woman, like the rest of the series, revolves around race. After Maya encountered prejudice from her white housemates, she developed a new sense of black identity and became a committed civil rights activist (McPherson 91). On the other hand, All God’s Children Need Travelling Shoes is centered on Angelou’s inner conflict between her African and American identities (Lupton 139), and how she was directed back to her home, America, by her Ghanaian friends. Certainly, Maya Angelou was a woman of experiences; each experience teaches that although the defeats a person may face are multifold, he must not be defeated (qtd. in Guillespie, et al).
In Stamps, Arkansas, the young Maya Angelou learned what it was to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were placed by whites (Johnson 18). It was during the 1930s in the South, when African-Americans and Caucasians in the United States were not considered equal; state segregation and local regulations became numerous. For example, African-Americans were not allowed to enter a building through the same entrance, and were restricted from whites-only schools, movie theaters, parks, hospitals, and other establishments (Osborne 19). African-Americans and Caucasians were never seen together in the same taxi, bus, or even the same walking lane. Furthermore, available jobs for African-Americans were limited to the lowest form of physical labor, which meant work in the fields, housework, babysitting and cooking (Johnson 10), and the most frightening for blacks during this time was the threat of lynching, most of it done randomly and casually (Johnson 11). The division along the black and white racial lines in Stamps, Arkansas was so rigid that Angelou rarely saw Caucasians; in fact, some African-Americans did not believe that they really existed. Her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, recalls her experience as a southern black girl, tormented by the imprisoning and disheveled socialization, living in the segregated part of town (Bloom 133).
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells the story of Maya Angelou journey from bondage to liberation, as a young African-American (Johnson 35). While Momma, Maya’s grandmother, was the owner of the main store in Stamps, she and her family were still not exempted from the insults and mockery of poor white girls (Bloom 4); they kept calling Momma by her first name which meant disrespect, and one girl even did a handstand exposing her private part directly at Momma’s face. Once again, Angelou suffered from a sense of indignity when a dentist, whom Momma had lent money when he was in danger of losing his practice, refused to examine her, and declared, “I’d rather stick my hand in a dog’s mouth than in a nigger’s” (Bloom 4). During Maya’s 8th grade graduation ceremony, a white man gave a speech wherein not only did he limit what black people could do to cotton-picking, but he also proclaimed that black women were restricted to housekeeping and babysitting; however, she proved him wrong, and destroyed the barrier white men built on African-Americans when she became the first African-American female trolley car conductor to be hired. In her I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou did not only develop from a three-year-old girl to a woman of seventeen, but she undeniably unfolded from a put-down black woman into the master of her fate and captain of her soul (Johnson 43).
As a child, Maya Angelou felt like an outcast in white society because of her race and appearance, but symbols of cruelty were not only white but also black (Johnson 32); nevertheless, Maya still conquered these challenges in the end.
Throughout much of her childhood, Maya remained rejected in a racist society, but she was also abandoned by her mother and father. She might be taken back by her parents after a while, but she was neglected by them, her mother always at gambling parlors, and her father constantly drowning himself in women and parties. For instance, Maya was forced to run away and live alone in abandoned cars because of his father’s irresponsibility. In addition, Maya’s stay in San Francisco turned into nightmare when her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, raped her (King 15). This incident became the reason for Maya’s “voluntary mutism” that lasted for five to six years (Johnson 34), and insecurity about her sexuality. Nonetheless, she overcame these difficulties as she regained her voice through self-education and formal training; she was able to graduate with top honors from the Lafayette Country Training School. Finally, she defeated the psychological consequence of the rape: development of negative images about her body and thoughts about being lesbian, by being able to lure a handsome young man into an experimental sex with her (Johnson 35). Aside from Caucasians, Maya Angelou also endured abandonment, carelessness and brutality, which she eventually …show more content…
surmounted, from her fellow African-Americans.
As Maya started her career in show business and writing, she spoke not only for herself but on behalf of the oppressed.
Maya Angelou was in her early 20s when she had been deprived of good roles in showbiz because people in power always chose white performers; however, Maya was patient and persistent. She was rewarded for her hard work, was chosen to be a member of a musical that would tour Europe (King 32), and the next thing she knew, greater opportunities came pounding on her door (Gillespie, et. al 43). Maya was given the role of the White Queen in Jean Genet’s play, The Blacks, where the colonized imitated their oppressors taking their worst traits. This served as the way for Maya to express her contempt to mean white women and brutal white men who had often injured her and her people (Gillespie et al. 64). Furthermore, Angelou became a member of Harlem Writer’s Guild, where she discussed and debated issues concerning African independence and the Black liberation struggles at home and abroad (Gillespie et. al 49). The freedom train was gathering speed and Angelou was eager to get on board. She and her fellow talents wrote and produced a show, Cabaret for Freedom, to raise money for Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a civil rights organization (Gillespie et. al 55). Through performing and writing, Maya Angelou fought against injustice and abuse not only for herself, but for all the
oppressed.
Maya Angelou was a budding playwright and poet, but the call to activism proved impossible to resist (Gillespie et. al 56). Together with the Harlem Writer’s Guild, she organized the Cultural Association for Women of African Heritage to support the work of all Civil Rights groups. Maya became passionately committed to supporting human rights, and it all started when she witnessed Martin Luther King Jr. rally support the Southern Movement to end segregation (Gillespie et. al 55). While others feared being labeled Communist, along with the Guild, she championed the Cuban Revolution which aimed to overthrow Cuban President Fulgencio Batista and establish a socialist and communist government (Gillespie et. al 57). Additionally, the Sharpeville Massacre in South Africa marked the beginning of Maya’s anti-apartheid activism; she attended different gatherings in support of the South African freedom struggle (Gillespie et.al 57). She also became the coordinator of Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity which sought to establish economic independence, and promote African-American self-determination (qtd. in Burnett). Black America was crying and raging in the streets; there were stories that needed to be told, truths calling to be spoken. As a human rights activist, Maya Angelou showed her commitment by bringing Black America to the stage as a playwright and into print as a poet when she joined Theatre of Being and wrote All Day Long, which focused on black people 's struggles to adjust to living in the city (Gillespie et. al 92). Maya Angelou’s activism displayed that her intention to symbolize hope in times of tragedy extended beyond writing and acting.
Maya’s poetry reflects her experiences of being a black woman who, notwithstanding her tumultuous upbringing, was able to not merely survive but triumph. For instance, her poem “Caged Bird” represents the caged bird as herself, trapped and would never be given the opportunity to blossom, while the cage represents people in power and the boundaries they set on her. Here, she also portrays a hope and great future ahead as she tries to sing (Garg):
But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream his wings are clipped and his feet are tied so he opens his throat to sing.
This poem illustrates the inferiority of African-Americans in a society dominated by Caucasians. Although African-Americans endured many injustices, they learned how to use their voice and stand up for their freedom (Swanier). On the other hand, Maya Angelou’s “Still I Rise” radiates with boldness and self-esteem. This is seen through the repetition of the phrase “I rise” emphasizing her confidence despite the hardships she faced. Maya does not refer to winning over adversities as her dream anymore; in actuality, she says that she has already risen, and that she is now the dream:
Out of the huts of history 's shame
I rise
Up from a past that 's rooted in pain
I rise
I 'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,
Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.
Leaving behind nights of terror and fear
I rise
Into a daybreak that 's wondrously clear
I rise
Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,
I am the dream and the hope of the slave.
I rise
I rise
I rise.
As Maya wins over her difficulties, she uses this poem to also encourage her readers, especially the maltreated, to fight against all inequities and live with courage instead of fear. Maya Angelou’s poetry cries out her difficulties but also celebrates her victories as a female African-American.
Maya Angelou might have been a singer, dancer, actor, producer activist, and author all at the same time, but her life abounded in social hardships: maltreated because of her skin, sexually violated at the age of seven, and forsaken by her own people. Seeing how Maya prevailed despite her dreadful journey allows us to see the huge possibility of our own victory over adversity (qtd. in Gillespie, et. al). She was someone who tried to be a blessing rather than a curse on the human race (qtd. in Gillespie, et. al). Finally, Maya refused to be boxed in; she always kept stepping, dreaming anew. She believed in the boundless capacity of the human family’s spirit, and the hope and possibility in each and every breath that we take. She wanted the best from us, and from herself, knowing that we struggle, sometimes falter, stumble, and lose our way (Gillespie 153). Her life is a book which lectures us to have the courage to love, to dare to try something new, to step up for ourselves, to seek to explore and achieve our potential (Gillespie et. al 177). The life of Maya Angelou is a gift that teaches us how to live without limits.
*approximately 2000 words
Works Cited List:
Angelou, Maya. I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. New York. Random House, Inc. 1969. Print.
Angelou, Maya. The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. New York. Random House, Inc. 1994. Print.
Burnett, Lucy. “Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU).” The Online Reference Guide to African American History. BlackPast.org. Web. 19. Oct. 2014.
Garg, A. “Analysis of Caged Bird - A poem written by Maya Angelou.” Poet and Poem. poetandpoem.com. 2013. Web. 19 Oct. 2014.
Gillespie, Butler, Richard Long. Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. New York. Random House, Inc. 2008. Print.
Grossman, Lev. “Maya Angelou.” Time. 09 June 2014. Academic Search Premier. Web. 29 Sept. 2014.
King. Sarah. Maya Angelou: Greeting The Morning. United States. The Millbrook Press. 1994. Print.
Lupton, Mary Jane. Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. London. Greenwood Publishing Group, Inc. 1998. Print.
McPherson, Dolly. Order Out of Chaos: The Autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou. New York. Peter Lang Publishing. 1990. Print.
Osborne, Linda. Miles to Go For Freedom: Segregation & Civil Rights in the Jim Crow Years. Library of Congress. 2012. Print.
Swanier, Jordan. “Caged Bird by Maya Angelou: Interpretative Essay.” Swanier English. sites.google.com. N/A. Web. 29 Oct. 2014.