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Maya Angelou "I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to through something back."





Maya Angelou, an "African American writer, activist, and stage and screen preformer"**(Angelou, Maya)**, has won the hearts of millions with her heart-wrenching and courageous stories and poetry. She has gone through so many rough and hard things in her life and she has expressed her feelings through her written works.**(Angelou, Maya 1928-)** She truly is an inspirational woman who sets a great example to women world wide. Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928. She was born in St. Louis, Massachusetts and went to public school in Arkansas and California. She was born to Bailey and Vivian Johnson. Bailey Johnson was a hard-working doorman and her mother, Vivian Johnson, was a registered nurse. Her parents divorced when she was three and she was brought up by her grandmother. At the age of seven, something happened to Maya that would change her life forever. She was raped by her mothers lover, then after she relvealed who he was after many years, her uncles beat him to death. She was so reluctant to sharing this information for so long.**(Boswell, Marshall, and Carl Rollyson 2008)** When she graduated the eighth grade, she moved back with her grandmother, who at the time lived in San Fransisco. But, her father re-gained custody of her, and as soon as she was forced home, she ran away. She found her mother who she lived with through high school. Then, after high school, she gave birth to her first son. Later in her life when she was in her thirties, she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, and there is where she met the people who influenced her the most to tell her life story by writing. She met James Baldwin, Paule Marshall, but most imortantly, Judy Fieffer, who influenced her the most to write. She published her most famous autobiography, __I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings__ which won the National Book Award and has become a classic for people of all races. Maya published many other volumes of autobiography such as //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), and //A Song Flung up to Heaven// (2002).Some of her most famous, award winning poetry is //Just Give Me a Cool Drink 'fore I Diiie// (1971), which won the Pulitzer Prize; //Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well// (1975); //And Still I Rise// (1978); and //I Shall Not Be Moved// (1990). In 1977, Maya recieved an Emmy nomination for her movie premire, //Roots.// She also recieved the honor to read her write //On the Pulse of Morning// that she read at President Clinton's 1933 inauguration. Maya has had an interesting life full of many ups and downs that make her the ispirational person she is today.


 * Still I Rise

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.

Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've 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 I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard.

You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs?

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. || media type="youtube" key="Xs1Cjoq6U_Q" height="349" width="425"

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Maya Angelou was influenced mainly by the people she met in her Harlem Writers Guild, her family and friends, and her tough times all throughout her life. She has been influenced over the years by a number of things that have inspired her to write. She was encouraged to tell her life story by Judy Feiffer, the wife of Jules Feiffer **(Boswell, Marshall, and Carl Rollyson)**. Judy insprired her to talk about her terrible and scary situation that took place when she was younger and how someting never made her stronger. Judy thought expressing all her repressed anger and bottled up feeling through writing was a great way to tell her story. Her family was supportive at a variety of different and random times in her life, but not all at once. After her parents divorce, her family grew appart immensly, but she stayed strong, and with the help of her grandmother, found love again, which was a great writing inspiration. She has written __I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings,__ which is her life story up to age 16, fresh out of high school where she gave birth to her first song, who has also inspired her to be brave. Her friends have always suppored her through anything and everything that she wants to do **(Angelou, Maya)**. They have influenced some of her other writing works such as poetry and books, as well. Maya has people in her life who she admires and loves, and these are the people who influnce her the most. 

Maya Angelou had a variety of many famous works that were about all different types of topics. She made a lot of volumes of her life in autobiographies where she talked all about how she was rapped to how she was recovered. She talked about the long journey back to happiness and love from a cold and lonely years of depression **("Maya Angelou")** Maya published many volumes of autobiography such as //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), and //A Song Flung up to Heaven.// I think that her numeruos amounts of autobiographies are very well organized in the way of that she did a good job of mapping and making statements abouth her life and how she turned it around.

Maya Angelou also wrote so many poems. Some of her most famous, award winning poetry is //Just Give Me a Cool Drink 'fore I Diiie// (1971), which won the Pulitzer Prize; //Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well// (1975); //And Still I Rise// (1978); and //I Shall Not Be Moved// (1990). **(**"**Angelou, Maya (1928– )").** These poems aren't only about all that she is feeling at the time, but how she as felt in the past. She had such a hard life, but even though things almost never went her way, she found poetry an outlet to her sadness and depresson. It was a place she could escape to and just pour her heart out onto paper and just give away all her depressing feelings away to her paper. She loved writing poetry so much. She has a large amount of published pietry books that she has thousands of published and unpublised works in. She always wanted to be a writer, but she never though that today she'd be a famous role model, too.



Maya Angelou will forever be rememebered, not only for her amazing works of literary magic and creativity, but also for the way she was able to overcome all of the harships in her life. She is a great literary role model to women and young women of all ages. She is kind, brave, and ceative and diserves a special place in history where everyone will remember her forever. Her contributation to poetry was not only to write to make other people happy, but to get her feelings out in a way that not only her, but others could enjoy as well. She has truly made her mark on history, and she will remain an imprtant literary figure for generations to come.

       __Works Cited__ <span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">"Angelou, Maya (1928– )." //Encyclopedia Americana.// Grolier Online, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">"Angelou, Maya." //Grolier Multimedia Encyclopedia.// Grolier Online, 2011. Web. 27 Apr. 2011.

<span style="color: #000000; display: block; font-family: Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; text-align: left;">Boswell, Marshall, and Carl Rollyson, eds. "Angelou, Maya." //Encyclopedia of American Literature: The Contemporary World, 1946 to the Present//, vol. 4, Revised Edition. New York: Facts On File, Inc., 2008. //Bloom's Literary Reference Online//. Facts On File, Inc. http://www.fofweb.com/activelink2.asp?ItemID=WE54&SID=5&iPin= EAmL1560&SingleRecord=True (accessed April 27, 2011).

[] "Maya Angelou." //Contemporary Poets//. Gale, 2001. //Literature Resource Center//. Web. 2 May. 2011.