Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou’s Work Will Live On

May 29, 2014 8:30 pm by Joyce Grant

Maya Angelou. Image: Adria Richard 

... Maya Angelou was so much more than a poet. She died this week at the age of 86, but her words will live on forever.

In addition to her poetry, Angelou was perhaps most famous for her autobiography (the story of her life which she wrote) called “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”

She rose from relatively humble beginnings, the daughter of a doorman and a nurse, to become a leader in a number of fields.

In addition to writing many books, plays, movies and TV shows, she was an actress, a journalist and an activist for human rights, including working to end racism against blacks in South Africa. She was a singer in nightclubs, a restaurant cook, and the first female African-American streetcar conductor in San Francisco. She formed a dance troupe with Alvin Ailey, toured Europe in an opera, was an administrator of the University of Ghana in Africa, and spoke six languages.

She was a journalist, a market researcher and a famously wonderful cook, who also wrote two cookbooks. She created greeting cards for card company Hallmark, and she published seven autobiographies and 30 books.

After all of her success in so many different areas, she referred to herself as, simply, “a teacher who writes”.

Although she never earned a university degree, Angelou taught philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theatre and writing in universities. She received 30 honourary degrees from universities.

“Courage is the most important of all the virtues because without courage, you can’t practice any other virtue consistently.”

“If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude. Don’t complain.”

 “Hate, it has caused a lot of problems in the world, but has not solved one yet.”

Adapted from source: http://teachingkidsnews.com/2014/05/29/1-maya-angelous-work-will-live/