Maya Angelou's Contribution To The Civil Rights Movement

Angelou’s contribution to the Civil Rights Movement and her achievements as an activist were remarkable. While these achievements seem to be enough to last a lifetime, the Civil Rights Movement was only the beginning for Angelou. Angelou worked as an outspoken Civil Rights activist during the movement. But even after the Civil Rights Movement had ended, she continued to be a voice of humanity, speaking out against anything that harmed the human spirit. Angelou moved on to influence American society as a whole, from the 1970’s to the day she died, May 28, 2014. She was a multi-talented person as Toni Morrison, a friend and contemporary of Angelou, expressed: “She had 19 talents and used 10. And she was a real original.” (qtd, in Sherwell, 2014).

Maya Angelou worked as a professor at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1991 to 2014. As an African American women, one whose life was full of racial discrimination and gender inequality, she had plenty of experience and wisdom to share with her students. During her time working at the university, she taught a variety of humanities courses such as “World Poetry in Dramatic Performance,” “Race, Politics and Literature,” “African Culture and Impact on U.S.,” and “Race in the Southern Experience” (Wake Forest University,

It was the first time anyone had been invited to read a poem since John F. Kennedy invited Robert Frost in 1961. Angelou was the first African American and the first women honored in this way. Angelou felt that Clinton made the request because "he understood that I (Angelou) am the kind of person who really does bring people together.” (qtd, in Manegold, 1993) Her strong and influential poem reached millions of television viewers. In this poem “On the Pulse of the Morning”, Angelou refers to different races, cultures, and religions all working together. The main theme and purpose of this poem was for Angelou to point out to all of humankind that they need to return to the original foundations that made the country great, including basic values and an appreciation of nature (Bloom, 2001). This theme was related to Bill Clinton’s mission as President. "On the Pulse of Morning" dually worked to help convey the many goals of Clinton's new administration (Lupton, 1998, p.