![]() ![]() 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. 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. 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.ĭoes my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I’ve got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? ![]() She goes where she will without pretense and arrives at her destination prepared to be herself and herself only. A woman in harmony with her spirit is like a river flowing. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I’ll rise.ĭid you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops, Weakened by my soulful cries?ĭoes 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. Each time a woman stands up for herself, she stands up for all women. Racism In the book, Angelou 's character, Maya, 'confronts the insidious effects of racism and segregation in America at a very young age,' according to SparkNotes. "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.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.ĭoes my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? ’Cause I walk like I’ve got oil wells Pumping in my living room. These quotes show the searing journey Angelou traveled transforming from a victim of rape and racism into a self-possessed, dignified young woman. I think they stick on the walls, they go into the upholstery, they go into your clothes, and finally, into your very body.'. "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). Angelou says she has no problem telling the offender that their words are poisonous. 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. 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. 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 reminds us all of our better selves," says Wagner-Martin. With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt. 'I have daughters who are black and white, Asian and Spanish-speaking. "I am the dream and the hope of the slave," said Jackson, referencing a line in Angelou's poem "Still I Rise." Maya Angelou said often that although she gave birth to one son, she had thousands of daughters. 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. Her work frequently addressed race and gender. Our brains are filing cabinets for information, but they’re not perfect. Angelou's words are so resonant that you can't throw a stone in U.S. This famous ‘people will forget what you said’ quote by Maya Angelou shows how we often don’t exactly remember the words that were spoken or the specific details of the action but the feeling it left behind. 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. ![]()
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