"By the time she became the impressive public speaker that people remember, she had lived through decades of penury, decades of various betrayals: She knew how unkind people could be, but her message in her dynamic lectures remained positive. "People took advantage of her in the usual ways - so she had learned to be suspicious of motives," says Wagner-Martin, acknowledging all the jobs Angelou worked to support herself and her son (these included fry cook, streetcar conductor, sex worker and nightclub singer). But this was a lesson that likely reared its head many times over the course of her life. The incident scared Angelou deeply and convinced her that he was indeed as ornery as he had proclaimed himself. Louis, Missouri in 1928, Angelou experienced firsthand the. Weeks later, he purposely stopped on railroad tracks while Angelou was in his car, taking off just in time to narrowly miss an approaching train. Maya Angelou was a renowned poet, author, and activist who dedicated her life to fighting for civil rights and equality. In context, Angelou was referring to a man named Phil, who told her that he was ornery and a crazy liar when they first met.
This quote appeared in Angelou's sixth autobiography, "A Song Flung Up to Heaven," which chronicles her life between 19. Let's delve deeper into the life of this renowned author, using five of the best Maya Angelou quotes. Maya Angelou teaches a message of balance don’t channel your strength into becoming someone who invokes enemies and ‘haters’, but don’t diminish it for the sake of letting other people walk all over you. She was one of the most celebrated poets and authors of America. Maya Angelou born with the name of Marguerite Annie Johnson was born on April 4, 1928, was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. "Maya Angelou reminds us all of our better selves," says Wagner-Martin. These famous Maya Angelou quotes on Love, Life, Woman will teach a way to enjoy life despite the challenges. "I am the dream and the hope of the slave," said Jackson, referencing a line in Angelou's poem "Still I Rise." Linda Wagner-Martin, author of the books " Maya Angelou: Adventurous Spirit" and " The Life of the Author: Maya Angelou," notes that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson quoted Angelou at the White House after her recent Supreme Court confirmation. media without hitting one of the late author's quotes.ĭr. Angelou's words are so resonant that you can't throw a stone in U.S. She earned dozens of honorary degrees a Presidential Medal of Freedom and a legacy that has endured via class curricula, contemporary Black feminist writers and even internet memes. The success of that first memoir spurred Angelou to write six more autobiographies, in addition to three books of essays, several books of poetry, plays, screenplays and even two cookbooks.