Maya Angelou

Reading poems from this great woman just gives me strength. Even though she is late, her work lives on. So today I’m celebrating a phenomenal, genius author and an amazing woman who was such a huge inspiration to me. Maya Angelou was born as Marguerite Johnson on April 4^th, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Maya Angelou became one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. With over 50 honorary doctorate degrees, Dr Maya Angelou became a celebrated poet, memoirist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker and civil right activist.

In 1970, Maya published the book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. The book received international acclaim and made the best seller list. Another interesting thing for me was the fact that the book was banned in many schools due to the fact that Maya Angelou’s honesty about having been sexually abused opened a subject matter that had long been taboo in the culture. This same book “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” became a course adoption at college campuses around the world. Maya Angelou was awarded the Medal of Freedom by Barrack Obama in 2011.

Despite all the terrible experiences, she came out stronger. This was a woman who stopped speaking at some point of her life as a child because she believed her words killed the man who raped her at the age of seven. Her words spoke to millions by the time she started speaking again. And like she said, she was saved in that muteness. She was able to draw from human disappointments and triumphs enough to triumph herself. Maya Angelou died on the 28^th of May 2014 at the age of 86.

Two of my favourite poems of Maya Angelou are ‘Phenomenal Woman’ this poem just reminds me of how proud I’m to be a woman. Regardless of anything, I’m a woman phenomenally.

You can read the full poem on this link: {https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/48985/phenomenal-woman}

And ‘Still I rise’ this poem celebrates my strength as a woman and reminds me that no one has the power to put me down except I approve. Regardless of everything I’ve been through; still I rise!

You can read the full poem on this link: { https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/46446/still-i-rise}

These are few inspiring quotes from Maya Angelou;

• “You may not control all the events that happen to you but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
• “We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.”
• “You alone are enough.You have nothing to prove to anybody.”
• “Never make someone a priority when all you are to them is an option.”

She is truly a source of inspiration and a phenomenal woman!

Please drop your comments below or send an email if you have inspiring stories to share with us here. Thanks.

Have a lovely weekend guys.

{www.mayaangelou.com}