![]() You can say that Maya Angelou is one of the first multi-hyphenate divas who may have set a precedent for the Beyoncés of this world. All that, and she even found time to be a recording artist! She did not waste an opportunity to acquaint herself with the language and culture of each country she visited. Eventually, she would tour Europe to perform under the production company she was employed with. This was the time when she took on Maya Angelou as her public persona. She would also accept money in exchange for being bedded for the night. She had herself and her son to feed, so she sang and danced at bars. It was during this time that she started taking dance classes and learning about different dances of different origins. A gainst All OddsĪpproval was clearly not something Maya sought when she married a white man, even as her mother disapproved. To this day, this horrible racism is the root cause of the current housing problem of San Francisco. The projects were to keep black people in place and away from white people. Even neighborhoods were strictly drawn with a line. Racism and segregation dictated the climate of the era. The locals were not prepared to accept the change. At her first job, she worked harder than most at the advice of her mother-simply because she was young, female, and most especially because she was black.Īt 17, she finished high school while pregnant with her son.ĭuring this time, black people continued to arrive in San Francisco after the World War in hopes of a better life. The West held a promise of better job prospects and better schools.īy 16, she started working and became the very first black cable car conductress. In 1940, Maya and her brother moved to California to be with their mother. ![]() She was highly observant, an excellent listener and often in deep thought. With the help of teacher Bertha Flowers, she started reading the works of several great poets and authors. Silent Rivers Run Deepĭuring those years of silence, she developed an extraordinary mind. She and her brother were sent back to live with their paternal grandmother. In her mind, she was afraid that her voice killed the man when she spoke about the abuse. ![]() The events left a young Maya Angelou unable to speak a word for five years. Days after, the man was found dead, and it was speculated that her uncles took justice into their own hands. She told her brother and he told their relatives, but while the rapist was found guilty, he only stayed one night at the prison. Their father came back for them after four years and whisked them away in the blink of an eye, only to leave them again but this time with their mother, who was living with a boyfriend. But not her grandmother, the wise old woman who prospered by selling basic commodities that people couldn’t do without. This was the early years of the Great Depression, and black people were in worse situations than everyone else. Perhaps this living arrangement was economically favorable to all involved. The two children were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, close enough for two young children to be traveling alone via train from St. Maya was a loving nickname her older brother gave her, derived from “my-a-sister.” At the age of four, her parents separated. The great force of a woman was born Marguerite Annie Johnson. But not for one black woman who took all of the circumstances against her as a challenge to fight back. Especially at an era when racial segregation still existed and the civil rights movement was at its peak, it could be very lonely and morale-breaking. Imagine yourself as a black woman in the 1950s, divorced and dancing in clubs for a living, even accepting money to be bedded for the night.
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