The journey of an amazing poet and civil rights activist has ended today. Sources report the phenomenal Ms. Maya Angelou died in her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina on Wednesday.
Angelou leaves behind her son, Guy Johnson, grandsons Colin Ashanti Murphy-Johnson, 32, and Elliott Jones, 22. Her great-grandchildren— Caylin Nicole Johnson, 11, and Brandon Bailey Johnson, 9.
Maya created a body of work that inspired many people and her work will continue to shine new ideas on the great minds of tomorrow.
Angelou was known for her charm, wit and great personality. Her main focus was to have equality and good education for African-Americans.
She was friends with some of the histories most iconic people like Malcolm X and Rev Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.
Ms. Angelou’s “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” won her notoriety in 1969. The poem was about the brutality of a Jim Crow south. Readers also got a sneak peek of the hardships Angelou faced in her childhood. Maya was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and then her parents left her behind. She later became homeless and conceived her only son Guy.
Ms. Angelou took to writing for an escape of the harsh reality she saw through her eyes.
“I want to write so well that a person is 30 to 40 pages in a book of mine, before she realize she’s reading.” Ms. Maya Angelou stated.
Ms. Maya had the need for speed, she was the first female streetcar driver in San Francisco at the age of 16. Not only did Ms. Angelou write great literature, she was an actress, and singer. Maya recorded her first album “Miss Calypso” in 1957.
Ms. Maya Angelou toured Europe in the mid-50s with the opera production “Porgy and Bess.”
Ms. Angelou was a humble heart, who not only commanded respect, but embodied the true meaning of self-love, strength and respect. She will truly be missed but her legacy will live for ages to come. Rest in Paradise Ms. Maya Angelou!!
I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings
The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.
But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.
The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom
The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.
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
The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
Maya Angelou
Million Man March Poem
The night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.
Under a dead blue sky on a distant beach,
I was dragged by my braids just beyond your reach.
Your hands were tied, your mouth was bound,
You couldn’t even call out my name.
You were helpless and so was I,
But unfortunately throughout history
You’ve worn a badge of shame.
I say, the night has been long,
The wound has been deep,
The pit has been dark
And the walls have been steep.
But today, voices of old spirit sound
Speak to us in words profound,
Across the years, across the centuries,
Across the oceans, and across the seas.
They say, draw near to one another,
Save your race. You have been paid for in a distant place,
The old ones remind us that slavery’s chains
Have paid for our freedom again and again.
The night has been long
, The pit has been deep,
The night has been dark,
And the walls have been steep.
The hells we have lived through and live through still,
Have sharpened our senses and toughened our will.
The night has been long.
This morning I look through your anguish
Right down to your soul.
I know that with each other we can make ourselves whole.
I look through the posture and past your disguise,
And see your love for family in your big brown eyes.
I say, clap hands and let’s come together in this meeting ground,
I say, clap hands and let’s deal with each other with love,
I say, clap hands and let us get from the low road of indifference,
Clap hands, let us come together and reveal our hearts,
Let us come together and revise our spirits,
Let us come together and cleanse our souls,
Clap hands, let’s leave the preening
And stop impostering our own history.
Clap hands, call the spirits back from the ledge,
Clap hands, let us invite joy into our conversation,
Courtesy into our bedrooms,
Gentleness into our kitchen,
Care into our nursery.
The ancestors remind us, despite the history of pain
We are a going-on people who will rise again.
And still we rise.
Maya Angelou
