April 4th was the birthday of the poet who died on 28 May 2014 at the age of 86 and on Wednesday, Google among many others celebrated Angelou’s birthday with a Doodle.
To quench your curiosity as to why Google used the photo of an old woman for a doodle, we dug around a bit and came up with a list of 10 reasons why Maya Angelou is famous and how she made meaningful impacts in the world.
So here you go:
1. Maya Angelou was an American poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. During her life, she published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years.
2. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
3. In the 1990s, she began making about 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something which she continued into her eighties.
4. In 1993, as requested by President Bill Clinton, Angelou recited her poem On the Pulse of Morning (1993) at his inauguration, making her the only poet to make an inaugural recitation after Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F Kennedy in 1961.
5. She was a respected spokesperson for black people and women and her works have been considered a defence of black culture. She earned this regard following the publication of her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, in which Angelou publicly discusses aspects of her personal life.
6. Angelou received among many other awards, the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011 by President Barack Obama. She was honored by universities, literary organizations, government agencies, and special interest groups.
7. Maya Angelou authored more than 30 books and received more than 50 honorary degrees.
8. Before the age of 40 and before becoming a writer, she had a diverse career which included: cook, waitress, sex-worker, dancer, actor, playwright, editor at an English-language newspaper in Egypt, Calypso singer, and cast member of the opera: Porgy and Bess.
9. Maya Angelou was San Francisco’s first female African-American cable car conductor who wanted to be a conductor at 16years old was because she loved the uniforms.
10. Her poem book, And Still I rise was regarded by her as a statement of a Black woman’s experiences and of her determination to survive and grow. Also, the title poem Still I rise was the centre of an advertising campaign for the United Negro College Fund and is a must-read for every woman as it is an inspirational message to carry on regardless of life issues.
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 backyard.
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.
