The Influences Of Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou, a native of St. Louis, began her life in Stamps, Arkansas with her paternal grandmother, older brother Bailey, and her paralyzed uncle. Stamps was a southern town plagued with segregation and, as Angelou remembered “..never believing whites were really real” (Angelou, 1969, pg.25). Stamps gave Maya her first exposure to the brutality of racial inequality. Her childhood was tragic and traumatic; nothing seemed to be on her side, yet because her resilience and passion were born out of tragedy, her life was full of triumph. Maya became a riveting storyteller because of three influences: her grandmother; a sexual assault; and a mentor named Bertha Flowers.
Maya’s grandmother was her biggest childhood influence . “I saw only …show more content…
One afternoon, three white girls came to Henderson’s store and deliberately disrespected her grandmother(Hannah is “ her” the grandmother. My changes will assume it is) . They mocked her, and Maya realized, “she was aping [her] grandmother” (Angelou, 1969, pg.29), referring to one of the white girls. Mrs. Henderson held her composure throughout the interaction by humming a hymn. Each girl shouted, “Bye Annie” (1969 page?) when they left the store. Maya, brewing with anger behind the door, was amazed by her grandmother’s impassivity. Her lack of emotion was not abnormal: “My grandmother never kissed me during those years” (Angelou, 2013, pg. x). Yet Maya felt so loved, “and safe under the umbrella of her love” (Angelou, 2013, pg. …show more content…
These and her childhood exposure to racial oppression led her to become a civil rights activist who had friendships with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. She spent time in Ghana in the early 1960s’ Malcolm X (Harps, 2014) and together they planned to relocate his Organization of African American Unity back to the United States. Only a day after Malcolm X returned to the states, he was assassinated. Mayawas devastated, but determined to continue fighting. She was led to a church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking. She impressed King and soon became the northern coordinator for his civil rights organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (Rodgers,
Maya’s grandmother was her biggest childhood influence . “I saw only …show more content…
One afternoon, three white girls came to Henderson’s store and deliberately disrespected her grandmother(Hannah is “ her” the grandmother. My changes will assume it is) . They mocked her, and Maya realized, “she was aping [her] grandmother” (Angelou, 1969, pg.29), referring to one of the white girls. Mrs. Henderson held her composure throughout the interaction by humming a hymn. Each girl shouted, “Bye Annie” (1969 page?) when they left the store. Maya, brewing with anger behind the door, was amazed by her grandmother’s impassivity. Her lack of emotion was not abnormal: “My grandmother never kissed me during those years” (Angelou, 2013, pg. x). Yet Maya felt so loved, “and safe under the umbrella of her love” (Angelou, 2013, pg. …show more content…
These and her childhood exposure to racial oppression led her to become a civil rights activist who had friendships with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King, Jr. She spent time in Ghana in the early 1960s’ Malcolm X (Harps, 2014) and together they planned to relocate his Organization of African American Unity back to the United States. Only a day after Malcolm X returned to the states, he was assassinated. Mayawas devastated, but determined to continue fighting. She was led to a church where Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was speaking. She impressed King and soon became the northern coordinator for his civil rights organization, the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. (Rodgers,