Maya Angelou was an amazing American poet, singer, author, actress, civil rights activist, and director. She is widely acclaimed and remembered for her progressive thinking, directness, and plain-spoken wisdom. Born Marguerite Ann Johnson, she is known for being the first African-American woman to write a bestselling autobiography. She was passionate about civil rights and the causes of human rights and women’s rights. Besides her written works, Angelou was also an amazing theatrical performer. Her live performances made her famous and well remembered in the world today.
Maya Angelou is best known for penning down several acclaimed autobiographies and holding intense and powerful lecturing sessions. Her most famous work – I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings – brought her wide attention and acclaim. She strived for the African-American community to get their due rights and advocated for civil rights. Her voice and words drew immense attention towards the plight of the black Americans who had to endure the discrimination of the Jim Crow Laws. She often spoke up for the racial inferiority and injustice blacks suffered everywhere.
Maya Angelou was privileged to recieve many prestigious awards during her lifetime – The Presidential Medal of Freedom, the Lincoln Medal, and three NAACP Image Awards, among several others. She was also awarded more than 50 honorary degrees from colleges and universities around the world and was voted 18 times as one of the world’s most influential women. Her books have sold millions of copies, and her influence will be felt for generations to come.
Besides her autobiographies, Angelou has written insightfully about the struggles of racism, discrimination, and prejudice, which she had to encounter from an early age. Her writings often reflect her life’s immense struggle and pain. Her words are a constant reiteration of strength and resilience that millions of people around the world can resonate with.Her work often develops a unique point of view that moves people in an uncanny way. Through her words and music, she has inspired and influenced a lot of people.
Maya Angelou has put forth a powerful voice towards civil rights, racial injustices, and human struggles that echo in today’s world. Her words reach out to the hearts and minds of people all around the world. She has brought to the surface the hidden emotions and situations that all of us have gone through in our lives and reflect in her work. Today, Angelou’s works stands as a reminder of the beauty of life that overwhelms us all.
An Activist and Director
Maya Angelou also was incredibly passionate about civil rights and was an active participant in the civil rights movement. She even worked with Malcolm X during the period of his rise in activism. An impassioned writer, she believes in writing and concerning herself with the civil rights grassroots movements of the early 1990s. She campaigned for the U.S. presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm and was the first African-American female writer for a television show. She also was an active feminist and led to the social and political amelioration of the African-American population.
Angelou also directed several movies and documentaries, many of which revolve around the struggles of African-Americans. She also wrote the script for an enormously successful adaptation of a modernized version of ‘Mother Courage and Her Children’. She directed shows like ‘And Still I Rise’ and the Tony-nominated ‘Look Away’. She was an amazing director and stood tall at the evidence of the burgeoning Civil Rights movement. Her influence has been used to empower and strengthen the stories of African-Americans for years.
The Singer and Performer
Maya Angelou was also a spectacular vocalist. She sung a lot of gospel in her very young years and was greatly influenced by the blues scene in her home town. She was very vocal about her beliefs and managed to win an Emmy and Tony Award nomination, performed at the Lincoln memorial of President Bill Clinton’s Inauguration and composing the music. She believed that one had to be vocal about the person’s beliefs in order to make their voice heard. In 1968, when Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated, she wrote and performed a poem named ‘His Day Is Done’ to pay her homage to him. It moved people and is remembered till date by those who appreciated the peaceful and loving gesture.
Angelou’s words and music made her famous and popular sitting on the stage of the Lincoln Memorial. That event was not new to her, since she was used to performing in very active places. One of her performances was in Ghana, a country in West Africa. She was taken by the African culture and thought this was the place where she could learn from the ancestors of her race. She even decided to stay in the country for a couple of years and returned full of new musical arrangements, musical ideas, and song lyrics.
Finally, Angelou was an amazing public speaker and an inspiring actress. Her stage presence hypnotized all of her viewers, as she discussed issues regarding civil rights and mentioned African-American struggles to all sorts of people, resonating with them deep in their hearts. Her quotes on civil rights and her popularity as an actress make her an icon among black people. Maya Angelou’s legacy will keep living on in her words, her music, and the many other things she has left behind.
Educator and Feminist
Maya Angelou dedicated a considerable amount of her time to mentor and to counsel young women. She claimed that she wanted to show the African-American women and girls of her generation how to be independent financially and how to be conscious about the multifaceted aspects of their lives socially. In that way, she became a role model for so many people. She taught literature and creative writing in communities like Wake Forest University and in many across Western Europe and Africa. She was even appointed to the esteemed Reynolds Professorship of American studies in Arkansas. Through her works and talks, she spoke about empowering not only African-Americans but also women in general which led her to be hailed as a feminist.
In recognizing the decade of the woman, Angelou played an important role in revitalizing the women’s rights movement. She encouraged young women to discover and explore their own identities, as well as develop a strong sense of self-awareness. Her writings have often honored the incredible strength and courage of African-American women and have emboldened them to find their right place in the society. Her works have inspired many women to take their lives and future into their own hands without losing sight of the value of their culture.
Apart from the books she wrote, Angelou wrote four plays, the most popular of which – ‘Cabaret for Freedom’ – was performed at the second march of Martin Luther King Jr., from Selma to Montgomery. That event is believed to be a form of protest as well as celebration of freedom for African Americans. She was passionate about her beliefs and even once said: ‘You can’t use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have.’ True to her words, she fought hard for the community, making sure it can become free from the chains of racial inferiority and discrimination.
A Prolific Poet
When Maya Angelou died in 2014, there were multiple outcries of sorrow and grief. As a poet, she wrote some of the most precious verses of English literature of all time. Angelou was more than just a poet. She wrote that rhymed with the harmonic desperation of her reality in her Poetry and really broke the third wall with her readers, making them feel connected and related with her. Through her beautiful language, she made her work relatable to everybody despite their age, gender, race, or ethnicity. On the surface, her words touched the depths of human suffering, but still offered hope to the readers. All of this enabled her to shape up the genre of poetry.
Maya Angelou was an incredible poet and her works were considered a unique and powerful form of poetry. Through her work, she explored the struggles of racism, segregation, discrimination and other forms of injustice. For instance, in one of her most popular poems, ‘Still I Rise’ Angelous spoke of resilience and undying passion in the face of oppression. This poem was not only interpreted as a feminist text, but also as a representation of the struggle that African American’s have been dealing with for years.
The New York Times and BBC have called Angelou’s ‘one of the most widely read poets’ of our time, citing her power to deliver social and emotional themes in her work. Her works often centered around Black Feminism and their struggles, guiding and inspiring millions of people around the globe. Her writings are still as impactful today as when she first wrote them and her work will always be remembered in different cultures all around the world.
An Inspirational Leader
Though she was an incredible thinker and an influential author, Maya Angelou is most strongly remembered as a beacon of hope during a period of tumultuous struggle and revolutionary change. Her standing was emulated in the media and was quoted by leaders all around the globe. Angelou not only wrote amazing poetry, but also wrote countless inspirational quotes that act like mantras for many people. Her firebrand quotes shifted the views of many people, creating a path for an inspiring and motivated change that would overcome the inequalities of society.
If there is something Angelou will be remembered forever, then it is her inspiring words and undying zeal to uphold the Rights of African-American women. She galvanised a revolution of African-Americans in the early-mid 1990s and her words soon spread like fire around the globe. Her works inspired millions of people to rise up against the everyday struggles and find solace in her writings. Maya Angelou will always be remembered for her fiery spirit and her ability to always stand up for what she believed in.
In addition to her activism and plays, Maya Angelou was also a Phenomenal Woman. In her famous poem, she spoke about the concept of self-love and self-acceptance as well as a spiritual growth that is complemented with beauty, gentleness, and intelligence. Angelou managed to stand out as a powerful leader in the African-American community and strived to unify them. Her work will continue to influence people in the years to come.
