Presentation by Faith Dumais

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Figure 1. Everett Collection/ Rex Features. 1972

Why Maya Angelou?

I choose Maya Angelou because

My mom has always loved her writing and life story

I grew up learning a little about her
I grew up reading a little of her work
I wanted to gain an even deeper knowledge of who she was

Biography

Born in Saint Louis Missouri on April 4th, 1928

Birth name is Marguerite Johnson

(Caged Bird Legacy: Biography)

The name Maya was given to her by her brother in place of my sister (Kim Gaines,
2003)
Raised in both Saint Louis and Stamps Arkansas (Caged Bird Legacy: Biography)
She spent many years of her childhood refusing to speak.
She became an author, poet, actress, playwright, film director and producer, and
civil rights activist.

(Kim Gaines, 2003)

In 1970, she published I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in which she opened up
about her experience with sexual abuse.(Caged Bird Legacy: Biography)

Accomplishments & Awards

Over 50 honorary doctorate degrees

30 of her published works became
bestselling titles

(Caged Bird Legacy: Biography)

She was the Reynolds Professor of

American Studies at Wake Forest
University (Kim Gaines, 2003)

Figure 2. From Caged Bird Legacy. Official

White House Photo by Lawrence JAckson

Critical Commentary
She has an uncanny ability to capture the sound of a voice on a page. (William
Sylvester, 1995)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings liberates the reader into life simply because
Angelou confronts her own life with such a moving wonder, such a luminous
dignity. I have no words for this achievement, but I know that not since the days of
my childhood, when people in books were more real than the people one saw
every day, have I found myself so moved. (James Baldwin, 1993)

Legacy

Angelou published 36 books in her lifetime.

(Caged Bird Legacy: Biography)

But I believe her legacy is so much more than that...

Excerpt from Still I Rise (Maya Angelou, 1994)

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, Ill rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
Cause I walk like Ive got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still Ill rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?

https://www.youtube.
com/watch?
v=0nYXFletWH4
(Dr. Maya Angelou: "Be a Rainbow in Someone Else's Cloud" Oprah's Master Class - OWN, 2014)

Works Cited
Angelou, M. (1994). The complete collected poems of Maya Angelou. New York: Random House.
Baldwin, J. (n.d.). Maya Angelou. In Children's Literature Review. Detroit: Gale. (Reprinted from Writers for Young Adults, Vol. 1, p. 44,
1993, Charles Scribner's Sons) Retrieved from https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/ps/i.
do?id=GALE%7CH1420021910&v=2.1&u=ncliveuncchet&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=9a0707bb5f5ac7050bcdf0633826ac81

Collection, E., & Features, R. (n.d.). 1972. Retrieved February 3, 2016, from http://www.theguardian.
com/books/gallery/2014/may/28/maya-angelou-a-life-in-pictures
Caged Bird Legacy: Biography. (n.d.). Retrieved January 29, 2016, from http://www.mayaangelou.com/biography
Dr. Maya Angelou: "Be a Rainbow in Someone Else's Cloud" - Oprah's Master Class - OWN. (2014, May 28). Retrieved
February 16, 2016, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0nYXFletWH4
Gaines, K. (2003). Biographical Essay. Retrieved February 16, 2016, from http://www.howard.
edu/library/reference/guides/angelou/MayaIntro.htm
Sylvester, W. (1995). Maya Angelou: Overview. In T. Riggs (Ed.), Contemporary Poets (6th ed.). New York: St. James Press.
Retrieved from https://librarylink.uncc.edu/login?url=http://go.galegroup.com.librarylink.uncc.edu/ps/i.do?id=GALE%
7CH1420000245&v=2.1&u=ncliveuncchet&it=r&p=LitRC&sw=w&asid=5e23021928eadf497d70143759386e72