MAYA ANGELOU

Portrait / press photo of Maya Angelou
Additional Information : Lordly & Dame, Inc

             Maya Angelou was a prominent figure who was celebrated for her poetry, memoirs, storytelling, civil rights advocacy, and oratory skills. She was born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928, and was raised by her grandmother and brother in Stamps, Arkansas. Despite not speaking for five years, Angelou developed a love for language, particularly literature by Black authors and canonical writers. 

    She pursued dance studies in New York City, sang in the Purple Onion cabaret in San Francisco, and joined the cast of a touring production of Porgy and Bess. Around that time, Angelou met James Baldwin and was inspired by Dr. Martin Luther King's message, and she joined the civil rights movement. 

    In 1993, Angelou became the first African American to recite a poem during a presidential inauguration, reciting "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's swearing-in ceremony. The poem emphasized unity, peace, and prosperity and the need to distance ourselves from a history of violence and disunity between humanity and nature. Her use of innovative writing techniques in her autobiographies challenged the genre's relationship with truth and memory. 

    The link between Maya Angelou and McLuhan's book "The Medium is the Message" is the idea of how communication technology shapes our understanding and experience of the world.

FUN FACT!

Maya Angelou made her second visit to Lawrence in 1997

Maya Angelou made her first visit to Lawrence in 1976

          

    Maya Angelou was given an honorary degree at Lawrence in 1976 and then returned to the University around twenty years later for the class of 1997 Convocation and to also receive another honorary degree. 

A citation read by Maya Angelou was "Your writing, singing, acting, teaching and being contribute incredible insight to understandings of the human race, the black race, and the black woman."