*Rarely is a life lived which endures so much pain and yet speaks so beautifully of joy. When Maya Angelou’s autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” was published back in the year 1969, it proved to be a game-changer in the literary scene of the time. More importantly, it showed that a black southern women’s life was worthy of great literature.
She spoke of sexism and racism, and their common currents. This was before terms like ‘intersectionally’ were coined to address the treacherous connection between these two forms of discrimination. She reinforced the idea of manhood to be at the root of the race problem.
Way before women had mustered the courage to speak out about their abuse and look to address it, she wrote of her experience as a rape survivor at a very young age at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend. This act of great courage in the face of the toxic culture of silence and shame that prevailed at the time made her an inspiration to many women, young and old.
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The doors that women like her opened, allowed for other women to start demanding their rights, and have today culminated in a generation of women that no longer accept silence and endurance as virtues. When millions chose to speak of their experiences of sexual assaults during the #YesAllWomen movement, it validated the struggle that great women like her bore.
And yet, when she addressed her childhood experiences that were layered by discrimination and abuse, she chose to tread with empathy. She chose not to feed into the narrative that deems black men as dangerous and violent. She spoke of her community with love, and while she duly pointed the finger at the man who wronged her, she also spoke of the many others who loved, nurtured, and even avenged her.
Being the remarkable Renaissance woman that she was, Angelou wore many prominent hats: best-selling author, poet, historian, educator, playwright, actress, producer, director, and a civil-rights activist. But what truly defined her personality, was the humanist in her.
She empathized and accepted the human experience in it all its shades. The kindness, wisdom, and dignity of her words and actions made us all listen and walk away feeling better about ourselves. In her own words, “I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
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