What Would Maya Angelou Do?

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Words can move the world in powerful, unexpected ways.

If you feel stuck or exhausted from all the hustle, for having to prove yourself more than your male coworkers, maybe you need some inspiration. And when you do, ask yourself: What would Maya Angelou do?

Nothing will work unless you do.

 

Maya Angelou had a bad start. Her parents didn’t get along, her mother’s boyfriend raped her, and she was unable to speak for six years. All that happened before she turned 16. As an African American, Angelou experienced racism and discrimination in Arkansas. She was a teen mother, working several jobs at the time while finding the strength in books.

If you don’t like something, change it. If you can’t change it, change your attitude.

 

In the 1950s, African American writers in New York City formed the Harlem Writers Guild to nurture and support the publication of Black authors. Maya Angelou soon joined, and at the time she started writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography. After hearing Dr. Martin Luther King, she went on to become a civil rights activist. The road led her and her son to West Africa, where Maya Angelou worked as a freelance writer. She finished her autobiography, which won immediate success and was nominated for a National Book Award.

You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.

 

As Angelou wrote her autobiographies and poems, she continued her career in film and television. She was the first Black woman to have a screenplay for Georgia, Georgia, produced in 1972. Angelou had a nomination for an Emmy award for her performance in Roots in 1977. In 1979, Angelou helped adapt her book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, for a television movie.

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.

 

During the early 1990s, Angelou wrote several books for children, but the most memorable moment was reading her poem On the Pulse of Morning, on Bill Clinton’s inauguration. Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar, Maya Angelou won over 50 awards, as well as the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also had numerous honorary degrees. She never stopped working. Her extraordinary passion for living words and everything related to human rights and art made her a hero.

If I am not good to myself, how can I expect anyone else to be good to me?

 

Maya Angelou didn’t come from a superhero movie. She was a woman who understood human nature and all the sadness and the joy life brings. She faced racism, misogyny, sexism, rape, so let her words inspire you and guide you.

I’ve learned that even when I have pains, I don’t have to be one.

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