Good-bye Maya Angelou

[L Verge]

So sad to learn of the death of poet Maya Angelou.

[HerbS]

Yes,she was one of the Best!-Herb

[Linda Anderson]

"In 1973, Ms. Angelou appeared on Broadway in “Look Away,” a two-character play about Mary Todd Lincoln (played by Geraldine Page) and her seamstress. Though the play closed after one performance, Ms. Angelou was nominated for a Tony Award."

http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/29/arts/m...86.html?hp

"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is the 1969 autobiography about the early years of African-American writer and poet Maya Angelou. The first in a seven-volume series, it is a coming-of-age story that illustrates how strength of character and a love of literature can help overcome racism and trauma."

Ms. Angelou took her title from a poem by African American poet Paul Lawrence Dunbar.

"I know why the caged bird sings, ah me,
When his wing is bruised and his bosom sore,
When he beats his bars and would be free;
It is not a carol of joy or glee,
But a prayer that he sends from his heart's deep core,
But a plea, that upward to Heaven he flings –
I know why the caged bird sings."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I_Know_Why_...Bird_Sings

[L Verge]

Was it Frederick Douglass who said that the enslaved people sang to overcome their woes?

[Linda Anderson]

"I did not, when a slave, understand the deep meaning of those rude and apparently incoherent songs. I was myself within the circle; so that I neither saw nor heard as those without might see and hear. They told a tale of woe which was then altogether beyond my feeble comprehension; they were tones loud, long, and deep; they breathed the prayer and complaint of souls boiling over with the bitterest anguish. Every tone was a testimony against slavery, and a prayer to God from deliverance against chains. The hearing of those wild notes always depressed my spirit, and filled me with ineffable sadness. I have frequently found myself in tears while hearing them."

Frederick Douglass, Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass

Here is Ms. Angelou reciting her famous poem, "Still I Rise." The poem starts at 42 seconds with the lines;

"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."

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JqOqo50LSZ0

[LincolnToddFan]

Maya Angelou was simply amazing. Her short story "The Bluest Eye" is the one of the most haunting I have ever read.

Laurie, did you ever meet her?

[L Verge]

No, but I wish I had. I remember being so amazed when I found out that she had been raped at a very early age and identified the man who did it. The man was subsequently murdered, and when she learned of it, she literally stopped talking for a number of years. She did not want her words to hurt anyone else. Thank the lord she chose to open her mouth once again - to talk and to sing.

[LincolnToddFan]

Oh God....??! I remember reading a graphic description of the rape that gutted me, but I did not know the rapist had been murdered and she was so traumatized as a result.

What a great soul. Most people would have rejoiced if someone who had harmed them had met that kind of fate.

BTW she didn't write "Bluest Eye"...Toni Morrison did. Thanks for the heads up Linda!

[My Name Is Kate]

According to Wikipedia, the attacker was her mother's boyfriend, and like so many of such people, he likely (I'm assuming) threatened her if she told anyone, but she told her brother anyway, who told the rest of the family, and her uncles (apparently) killed the man. So he died instead of her.

It sounds like it wasn't a conscious decision not to speak, but the result of massive guilt and confusion and imagining that she had some magical and dark powers that could hurt people.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou

"Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone" ...Angelou credits a teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, with helping her speak again."

[LincolnToddFan]

Such a haunting, incredibly sad story! Thanks Kate-