“When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am.” May 29, 2014
Posted by OromianEconomist in Africa, African American, Black History, Humanity and Social Civilization, Language and Development, Maya Angelou, Oromo and the call for justice and freedom, Uncategorized, Wisdom.Tags: Africa, Africa and America, African Studies, Black writers, Human Rights and Liberties, Maya Angelou
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“A Brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal wowan.” – President Barack Obama
She made her name with the memoir I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which charted a childhood of oppression and abuse in the Deep South in the 1930s.
Her family described her as “a warrior for equality, tolerance and peace”
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606776
Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson, in St Louis, Missouri, in 1928.
http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/28/maya-angelou-poet-author-dies-86
Newsweek’s Original Review of Maya Angelou’s ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’
http://www.newsweek.com/newsweeks-original-review-i-know-why-caged-bird-sings-252587
Global Renaissance Woman
Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Hailed as a global renaissance woman, Dr. Angelou is a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist.
Born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, Dr. Angelou was raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Dr. Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture. Read more @Welcome to Maya Angelou’s Official Site- http://mayaangelou.com/
Maya Angelou in 1969, the year of her landmark memoir
Maya Angelou and Malcolm X in Accra, Ghana, 1964
‘We write for the same reason that we walk, talk, climb mountains or swim the oceans — because we can. We have some impulse within us that makes us want to explain ourselves to other human beings. That’s why we paint, that’s why we dare to love someone — because we have the impulse to explain who we are. Not just how tall we are, or thin… but who we are internally… perhaps even spiritually. There’s something, which impels us to show our inner-souls. The more courageous we are, the more we succeed in explaining what we know.’
Maya Angelou by Spanglej, CC BY-SA 2.0.
Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning.
Find a beautiful piece of art. If you fall in love with Van Gogh or Matisse or John Oliver Killens, or if you fall love with the music of Coltrane, the music of Aretha Franklin, or the music of Chopin — find some beautiful art and admire it, and realize that it was created by human beings just like you, no more human, no less.
There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.
The idea is to write it so that people hear it and it slides through the brain and goes straight to the heart.
When I am writing, I am trying to find out who I am, who we are, what we’re capable of, how…
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