Maya Angelou
"And still I riseĀ
I rise, I rise, I rise"- Maya Angelou. Indeed Maya Angelou has risen to a level beyond excellence and ingenuity. She is known to be a very inspiring and invigorating figure that has truly influenced society through her famous literary works and through her earthy and spiritual nature. Maya Angelou has proven to be a very gifted and talented woman, who has captivated the interest and admiration of many individuals across the world.
As a child, Maya Angelou encountered a very dysfunctional lifestyle. She was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis Missouri, on April 4, 1928 ("Maya"). When she was about three years old her parents divorced and her and her brother Bailey were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. "Growing up in Stamps, Angelou learned what it was like to be a black girl in a world whose boundaries were set by whites" ("She-Roe"). After five years of living with their grandmother, Maya was sent back to her mother in St. Louis. In St. Louis Maya faced the tormenting experience of being raped by her mother's boyfriend ("Maya"). This certain experience and her whole experience of moving back and forth between her mother and grandmother caused her to struggle with maturity. "She became determined to prove she was a woman and began to rush toward maturity. Angelou soon found herself pregnant, and at the age of sixteen she gave birth to her son, Guy" ("Maya"). Her son proved to be the highlight of her life and finally allowed Maya to realize what she had been missing in her life. Since then she had risen above all her obstacles and worked toward a new promising life.
Despite the difficult situations Maya faced during her life, she did manage to get an educational background and set forth her various careers. "Maya attended public schools in Arkansas and California, then, when she moved to San Francisco at the age of 16, Maya became San Francisco's first female streetcar conductor" ("She-Roe")....
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