Black History Month Honoring Maya Angelou

Black History Month Honoring Maya Angelou

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
   

  
1928  -  2014

The free bird leaps
on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

         But a bird that stalks
         down his narrow cage
         can seldom see through
         his bars of rage
         his wings are clipped and
         his feet are tied
         so he opens his throat to sing.

                  The caged bird sings
                  with fearful trill
                  of the things unknown
                  but longed for still
                  and his tune is heard
                  on the distant hill
                  for the caged bird
                  sings of freedom

                          The free bird thinks of another breeze
                           and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
                           and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
                           and he names the sky his own.

         But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
         his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
         his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
         so he opens his throat to sing

                  The caged bird sings                    
                  with a fearful trill
                  of things unknown
                  but longed for still
                  and his tune is heard
                  on the distant hill
                  for the caged bird
                  sings of freedom.

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She grew up in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. She is an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. She is best known for her autobiographical books: Mom & Me & Mom; Letter to My Daughter; All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986); The Heart of a Woman (1981); Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976); Gather Together in My Name (1974); and I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), which was nominated for the National Book Award.

In 1959, at the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. From 1961 to 1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt, the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East, and from 1964 to 1966 she was feature editor of the African Review in Accra, Ghana.

She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. She accepted a lifetime appointment in 1981 as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

In 1993, Angelou wrote and delivered a poem, "On the Pulse of the Morning," at the inauguration for President Bill Clinton at his request. In 2000, she received the National Medal of Arts, and in 2010 she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

The first black woman director in Hollywood, Angelou has written, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1971, she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia, Georgia, and was both author and executive producer of a five-part television miniseries "Three Way Choice." She has also written and produced several prize-winning documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden Eagle Award. Maya Angelou was twice nominated for a Tony award for acting: once for her Broadway debut in Look Away (1973), and again for her performance in Roots (1977).