Musings from members of our community about the impact of Dr. Maya Angelou on their lives, dreams, and creativity.
A Young Girl, Grabbing Life by the Lapels, by Eva-Marie Malone
It feels like a contradiction to mourn the passing of Dr. Angelou, because unlike many other well-known people who are gone, her life doesn’t seem incomplete. Often, the first response to the loss of someone famous is to imagine “what might have been” or what else they might have accomplished. Everything about Dr. Angelou’s life and writing felt complete. Although this transition feels like a personal loss to many of us, her impact continues to resonate and breathe for all of us.
I was first introduced to Dr. Angelou’s stunning autobiographical series when, as a teenager, I asked for books by Black women one Christmas. I received the first four installments of what was eventually a six-part story of half of her life. I couldn’t stop reading. I cut classes to keep reading.
The breathtaking impact of Dr. Angelou’s work could be found in its subject, its voice, its breadth, and its honesty. Encountering a writer who spoke so candidly about making mistakes and being imperfect was terrifying and inspiring for a teenager just learning how to make mistakes. Without lecturing, her story demonstrates that it’s not how often or how far you fall, but how many times you’re willing to pick yourself back up and continue on. Moreover, as many others have noted, her story was their first introduction to a story that resonated on a deep personal level and that was also deemed to be literature. When much of your culture erases your story, it can be an astounding thing to hear a familiar story uplifted and praised.
The way in which Dr. Angelou set herself against greater obstacles than I’ve encountered fostered my own nascent interest in social justice. Reading about how she became the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco, how she and her mother were among the first African American guests at a recently desegregated hotel in California, and how she worked with both Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, taught me that my interest in issues beyond college applications, prom, and the next issue of Seventeen was OK. Her life story marked a path to move past protestations of “That’s not fair!” to become a changemaker.
Both the bold tone and bold choices of Dr. Angelou’s life provide an inspiring model for women particularly to let go of fear. When she found herself in an untenable situation, she set her feet in a different direction. When she saw injustice, she spoke out about it, with compassion and clarity. At the same time, her breathtaking honesty makes it clear that it is not easy to live that kind of intrepid life. She writes about making big choices that lead to big mistakes, but also writes about facing those mistakes and moving to correct them. Her balance of boldness and accountability fueled my own desire to try to move past fear and become a storyteller.
In I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Dr. Angelou recounts her rape at age 7 and her attacker’s subsequent arrest, conviction, and murder. Her fear that her words and the telling of that truth had resulted in the man’s death led to five years of selective mutism. It is only the power of beautiful words that persuade her to begin speaking again. Reading that story and feeling the visceral impact of how she was bound by her own fear and shame convinced me that it was OK to speak out against the violation of women with clarity and volume. It’s not acceptable for women to be silenced by shame based on bad acts by someone else.
The recent #NotAllMen/#YesAllWomen controversy on Twitter has demonstrated the timelessness and resonance of the lesson. The fact that women have recounted ways in which their lives are constricted by the threat of violence using the #YesAllWomen hashtag could have opened a productive and instructive dialogue about the ways in which we are all damaged by rape culture. Instead, a multitude of men chose to respond by claiming that #NotAllMen violate women – missing entirely the point that silence about violation can be just as damaging.
Rape culture doesn’t require that all women experience rape, it’s fueled by constricting women’s lives with the fear of assault. I was shocked to see that one of the #YesAllWomen tweets recounted the story of a woman being groped on the street in SoHo a few blocks from my office forty years ago. What disgusted me the most was the exact same thing happened to a coworker in almost the same spot two years ago. Until we can tell our stories without being afraid of the consequences – to ourselves, to others, to our loved ones – we still need compassionate, clear-eyed, and bold storytellers.
Dedication to Maya Angelou, by Zakeia Tyson-Cross
I’ve often imagined you sitting here, with me in my living room. The warmth and order of colors reflected from the sun would illuminate your smile and your peaceful energy, and you would share it effortlessly. You, Dr. Angelou, shared so much of yourself to the world; your countless lessons, mistakes, leadership and deep love and compassion for your loved ones and friends makes me want to share more. Nostalgically genial is how I see your words, and they ultimately encouraged, pushed, shook out of me my thoughts, passion and vision for a new over standing of my place in this life. There are countless storytellers within this world but very few were able to transform words into imagery, packed in so much emotion and felt internally by millions. Could we imagine a world of people that shared freely their sincere hopes for a more peaceful humanity and a claim to practice what we yearn the most, which is love?
There are so many quotes and lessons that I’ve taken away from reading your stories and poetry. One in particular was through an intimate interview via Iconoclasts with Dave Chappelle, where you gave him an inspirational quote which I took for myself. And it is “don’t pick it up and don’t lay it down,” meaning that if someone praises and tells you how great and wonderful your gifts are, you will likely have to pick up the negativity that may follow. This quote empowers me to do my best work within creative writing and share it with the world based on my passion and not so much on the praises or heckles that may follow. I’ve learned that my artistry will continue to grow and that “I am somebody”, not just because my mother, grandmother and other loved one’s embedded that ideal in me. It’s because I internalize my radiance to persevere and I am reminded of that every time I look at myself in the mirror, and when my daughter flashes a smile at me.
I don’t know if someone can truly mentor a person that they’ve never met. I have such a profound connection to your work and the huge stamp of love you placed on the world. I love you and what you so easily unselfishly shared. You will be missed but your words and spiritual energy will be eternally felt.
Dedicated To the Memory of Dr. Maya Angelou
Love looks like you
Layered in the sun’s radiance to illuminate the earth
It ripples softly over the oceans waves
It sparkles in the night of darkness while peeking over the moon
It speaks through song from the beaks of fluttering birds
Coasting over the Mississippi river
To the heavy wallops on the djembe in the middle of the Congo
Love looks like you
Simple and complex at the same time
Daring and unrelenting
Friendly and comforting
Love, it looks like you