Poet Maya Angelou has died

[Justiceforever]

Dr. Maya Angelou was a phenomenal woman!



What an inspiration to survivors of sexual abuse!

"At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman.

She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day.

Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles.

Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated,

"I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone ..."

According to Marcia Ann Gillespie and her colleagues, who wrote a biography about Angelou, it was during this period of silence when Angelou developed her extraordinary memory, her love for books and literature, and her ability to listen and observe the world around her "RIP

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou"]Maya Angelou - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia[/ame]

 

[Charlie09]

The Decision That Changed My Life:
Keeping My Baby
by Maya Angelou

b. April 4, 1928, d. May 28, 2014

When I was 16, a boy in high school evinced interest in me, so I had sex with him — just once. And after I came out of that room, I thought, Is that all there is to it? My goodness, I’ll never do that again! Then, when I found out I was pregnant, I went to the boy and asked him for help, but he said it wasn’t his baby and he didn’t want any part of it.
[modsnip]

Family Circle Magazine; October 8, 2001

http://www.feministsforlife.org/remembering-maya-angelou/

 

[tlcya]

A life well lived

 

[tlcya]

May favorites of her poems are I Rise and Phenomenal Woman

 

[Justiceforever]

May favorites of her poems are I Rise and Phenomenal Woman

I <3 them both but Still I Rise is my favorite!

Still I Rise

You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may tread me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.

Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops.
Weakened by my soulful cries.

Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin' in my own back yard.

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.

Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?

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.
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.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

Maya Angelou

Rest peacefully Maya Angelou. What a beautiful woman! She spoke to many many hearts and minds including mine!

 

[Hopeful One]

There aren't many human beings whom I consider living angels but she was one of them. My grandma (my dear, dear love - like a mother to me) passed away a month ago and she was one of these rare earth angels.

The world has lost a special woman, someone truly remarkable. It won't be the same without her.

 

[newone]

Grateful to all the posters who posted excerpts from Maya -- I was stunned to hear of her passing today but I hear her strongly speaking in my heart. After you have heard her speak once her words remain as a source of comfort.

 

[kimi_SFC]

May favorites of her poems are I Rise and Phenomenal Woman

I found this, tclya:

Dr. Maya Angelou recites Phenomenal Woman on Oprah's Super Soul Sunday

http://youtu.be/VeFfhH83_RE

She personified and epitomized the phenomenal woman, in my eyes. She challenged us to refuse to accept the limitations others set upon us, as well as those we sometimes set upon ourselves.

Most of all, her wisdom always reminded us of the necessity of the love and acceptance of self.

A wordsmith of irreplaceable caliber. She will be forever missed.

#RIPDrMaya

:candle:




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[kimi_SFC]

There aren't many human beings whom I consider living angels but she was one of them. My grandma (my dear, dear love - like a mother to me) passed away a month ago and she was one of these rare earth angels.

The world has lost a special woman, someone truly remarkable. It won't be the same without her.

My condolences Hopeful One... :heartbeat: :candle:

:hug:


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[Salem]

Very sad news. She was really an inspiration to me.

Salem

 

[spamelope]

http://www.tmz.com/2014/05/30/maya-angelous-dead-oprah-winfrey-911-call/

An emergency dispatcher who can be overheard in the Maya Angelou 911 call was suspended for criticizing Oprah Winfrey in the middle of the emergency.

John Ruckh -- a dispatcher in Winston-Salem North Carolina for 24 years -- is heard in the background ... making critical comments to someone about Oprah.

Read more: http://www.tmz.com/2014/05/30/maya-angelous-dead-oprah-winfrey-911-call/#ixzz33R4dQdiw

 

[BetteDavisEyes]

Poet Maya Angelou remembered at memorial service

EMERY P. DALESIO, AP
37 minutes ago

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton says his friend, poet, orator and actress Maya Angelou (MY'-uh AN'-juh-loh) lived enough to experience five lifetimes.

Clinton spoke Saturday at Angelou's memorial service in a chapel at Wake Forest University. He remembered the woman who read a poem at his first inaugural as a firefly.

Clinton says Angelou would light up at the most unpredictable times and show you something in your mind you had been burying or something in your heart you were afraid to face...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/entertainment/20140607/US--Maya.Angelou-Memorial.Service/

 

[kimi_SFC]

Poet Maya Angelou remembered at memorial service

EMERY P. DALESIO, AP
37 minutes ago

WINSTON-SALEM, N.C. (AP) — Former President Bill Clinton says his friend, poet, orator and actress Maya Angelou (MY'-uh AN'-juh-loh) lived enough to experience five lifetimes.

Clinton spoke Saturday at Angelou's memorial service in a chapel at Wake Forest University. He remembered the woman who read a poem at his first inaugural as a firefly.

Clinton says Angelou would light up at the most unpredictable times and show you something in your mind you had been burying or something in your heart you were afraid to face...

http://xfinity.comcast.net/articles/entertainment/20140607/US--Maya.Angelou-Memorial.Service/

This article is a must read. Here are a few more snips I had to share with you all:

"She was without a voice for five years and then she developed the greatest voice on the planet. God loaned her His voice," Clinton said. "She had the voice of God. And he decided he wanted it back."

(snip)

"Maya Angelou is the greatest woman I have ever known," Winfrey said, then almost sobbing: "She was my anchor. So it's hard to describe to you what it means when your anchor shifts."

(snip)

Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis and raised in Stamps, Arkansas, and San Francisco. Her life included writing poetry by age 9, giving birth as a single mother by 17, and becoming San Francisco's first black streetcar conductor.

(snip)

She wrote music and plays, received an Emmy nomination for her acting in the 1970s TV miniseries "Roots" and danced with Alvin Ailey.

(snip)

In 1968, she was helping the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. organize the Poor People's March in Memphis, Tennessee, where the civil rights leader was slain on Angelou's 40th birthday.

Her son, Guy Johnson, said Angelou's last decade was filled with pain — the toll of her career as a professional dancer and respiratory failure. She was bound to a wheelchair and oxygen tanks. Still, she was able to write four more books, had all of her mental faculties, and died quietly in her sleep.

"There is no mourning here," he said.

———

The "Thanks" button will never be enough for the link to this extensive write-up, BetteDavisEyes! :tyou:

I can understand how Ms. Winfrey must feel. To have Dr. Angelou as your confidante and anchor must have been truly amazing. To lose her, must be devastating. Her axis, and anchor has shifted.

I wish Mr. Johnson my condolences. It would appear his Mother raised him with love and strength. I am truly grateful Dr. Angelou is now free from all pain.

She will remain irreplaceable in my eyes. She has risen, to the heights of the angels. Her words will be spoken in voice and mind by earthbound souls, young and old, for the ages. I envision those words - her words -floating upwards to the heavens, where she awaits their arrival, with a beautiful smile.

In that way, we continue her legacy forever. It allows me to watch Still I Rise with one less tear each day. :sigh:

#RIPDrMaya

:rose:


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