Why Maya is my hero!

I smile when I read her poem ” Stillness I Rise”

Maya Angelou inspires me. When she was alive, she helped the world become a better place. She wrote poems that make me feel good. She wrote books that helped people understand that we can achieve greatness in this life. She had so many careers! She achieved more than most people in her lifetime.

Still I Rise

BY MAYA ANGELOU

You may write me down in history

With your bitter, twisted lies,

You may trod 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.

Who was Maya Angelou?

She was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri.  She was the second child of Bailey and Vivian Johnson. Her older brother, Bailey, Jr gave her the nickname “Maya” which stood for — mya sister

Dr. Angelou was a civil rights activist, scholar, world renown poet, and award-winning author.  In her lifetime she accomplished many amazing achievements because she would not allow her race or gender to be a barrier.  For example, in the 1950s, African Americans could not become cable car conductors in San Francisco.  Through her persistence and determination, she became the first female African American cable car conductor

In the 1950s and 1960s she was an actor and singer.  She was in a Broadway play with James Earl Jones and Cicely Tyson.