Maya Angelou's Empowerment

“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.” (Angelou) This was once said by a well-known poet who was a strong believer in the empowerment movement. This poet was known as Maya Angelou. Angelou pursued her writing career during The Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a time during the 1920s when the black culture experienced a rebirth. During this time, they began to discover their very own talents. (Beers, 976-978) Maya Angelou was a firm believer in empowering not only herself but also others. Empowerment is defined by Merriam-Webster Dictionary as the ability to promote the self-actualization or influence of. (Merriam-Webster.) Throughout this paper we will be exploring Maya Angelou’s legacy and her fight for women empowerment.

On April 4, 1928 Bailey Johnson’s wife Vivian Baxter Johnson gave birth to Marguerite Ann Johnson who would later become known as Maya Angelou. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised there for a short time. After her parents ended their marriage in 1931 Angelou at the

Through trials of tough times she overcame it all and Angelou’s life started to look up. She became a member of the Harlem Writers Guild and a civil rights activist. Through this she organized numerous groups and starred in numerous musicals. She traveled to different countries performing and when she came back she decided to write about the struggles and adventures of her life. She wrote “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” in 1969 which made history being the first nonfiction best-seller by and African-American woman. She became an even bigger star after her success with this book. She kept building up her life from this point on showing that woman are capable and everyone should be treated equal. She continued to write autobiographies and also published many different