I never knew this about Maya Angelou...

[Drunken Irishman]

When she was eight, while living with her mother, her mother's boyfriend raped her. She told her brother, who then told the family, and the man was arrested and found guilty - but only spent one day in jail. Upon his release, he was murdered, likely by one of Maya's uncles. At that point, Maya Angelou became a mute, fearing that her voice had killed the man. She would not speak again for nearly five years.

[CousinIT]

1. I read that somewhere.

Heartwrenching. Just unimaginably heartwrenching.

[tulipsandroses]

2. Detailed in her earliest most famous writings - I Know Why The Caged Birds Sing

Sorry, this is almost Blasphemy - But then again, it speaks to the different education in America when you grow up in black neighborhoods vs other neighborhoods. I can't think of a black person that went through high school or junior high school that did not have this book as a reading assignment - at least when I was younger.

The book was made into a movie for tv
[link:

|

[Drunken Irishman]

5. I grew up in Utah. We were lucky if they gave us anything to read.

Our public schools were not very good and I ain't no smart because of it.

[Chili]

10. yes - can't remember when we read it

...but it was before high school - I'm thinking 8th grade. Powerful read.

[GoCubsGo]

3. It's why she titled her memoir, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings."

I was lucky I got to see her about 25 years ago, when she came to my town. She was a force.

[Trueblue Texan]

12. I loved her work...

...but honestly, I still don’t know why the caged bird sings...

[Guilded Lilly]

4. I wasn't aware, either. The depth of violence and trauma is soul-crushing.

[samnsara]

6. I am so glad they believed her...

...one day in jail..grrrrrrr..

[flamin lib]

8. Yeah but, one day in jail and killed on release.

Nobody prosecuted.

There is Justice and there is the Law. They don't always coincide which may be why he only spent one day in jail. Down home law is like that . . .

[skypilot]

7. I remember this from...

...I Know Why the Caged Birds Sing. A bit further on in the book I was appalled and angered by Angelou's grandmother who, when Maya did finally speak, gave her a severe beating because she used the words "by the way", which the grandmother considered to be using the Lord's name in vain because God is "The Way". I kind of hope I'm misremembering this part of the book because if my recollection is correct this episode always angers me when I think about it. Great book but not grandma's finest moment, especially coming on the heels of the trauma that Angelou had already suffered.

[ancianita]

9. My students and I read her bio and knew about that over 20 years ago.

She said that while she was silent she memorized four Shakespeare plays, all parts, and read tons of poetry and whatever else she could get from the library.

It showed them that reading is therapy.

I showed this in my classes from 1990 on. Start 04:00

[Chili]

16. okay

I went to the 3:22 mark and started to watch. And kept watching.

I've "known" of Maya Angelou, all my life. As said above, I read I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings when I was probably 10-11 years old. I watched her speak at Bill Clinton's first inauguration and was so proud and impressed. I watched her speak at Barack Obama's first inauguration and again, was so proud and impressed. But this is the first time I've ever really listened. And I'm old. And I cried. Thank you so much for posting that link. That was the most intensely beautiful painful real thing I've seen in a long time.

[ancianita]

17. Happy to read this.

I never see this without weeping. She is, to me, the timeless soul of humanity.

[Chili]

19. yes she is

Her reading of We Wear the Mask - I had to google for the name, had never heard of it - was something I will never ever forget.

But at least I knew Still I Rise! dog gone it!

[niyad]

23. Thank you for this. Would you post it as its own OP. I think it would be very pertinent and

helpful today.

[ancianita]

27. Thanks, I just did. Because when I thought about this from so long ago, I realized how important

she is right now.

Thank you, Internet gods, for preserving this old videotape of Maya Angelou.

[marble falls]

11. It all only made her more of who she was. It helped shape her when it could have destroyed her.

[Warpy]

13. "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

details a good bit of this. It's a harrowing read, but a good one.

[muntrv]

14. I read about it in her book "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings."

[Warpy]

15. Jinx!

[Kind of Blue]

18. Although I didn't know it back then, I was fortunate that Ms. Angelou came

to one of my parents' parties when they were all young between '67/'69. She must have been in her mid-late '30s, as my dad, and my mom around 25, 26.

As usual, I'd sneak out of bed to listen to the grown folks talk and not only hear but feel their laughter vibrate the walls. At one point, Ms. Angelou had the floor and my dad said something like, "That woman talks too much." The party of at least 20 people went dead silent. Immediately Ms. Angelou laid into him so hard, it was stunning followed by silence. Then mom said, "Tell him, Maya!" My dad burst into uproarious laughter and said to Ms. Maya, "That's why I married E," my mom. "She's too much and I love that." Yeah, he recovered real quick and the good times resumed with the three of them talking about how domineering men are.

Years later in my high school Black Lit class, "Caged Bird" was required reading. When my mom saw it she was so pleased. I never would have related the Maya of 10 years before with the author. My mom said, "Don't you remember Maya? She was the lady who told your dad off. I know you heard it because I saw you sneaking around that night but decided not to punish you. It was good for you to hear that."

[Chili]

21. what a great story!

...and a great memory!

[Kind of Blue]

24. Oh yeah, I cherish it!

[ancianita]

22. Ahhh. Wonderful story. Thank you.

[Kind of Blue]

25. Thank you, ancianita. I've goosebumps feeling how you enjoyed it!

[ancianita]

28. Oh, I love how people experience greatness before its time, and then retell it to us.

Yours is a great story for the new American history that Howard Zinn would appreciate!

[Kind of Blue]

29. Howard Zinn?!? Wow, never thought of it as history but precious memory.

Goosebumping all over the place now.

Thanks again, ancianita.

[ancianita]

20. Thank you, DI, for reminding us how great is the soul and wisdom of Maya Angelou.

If you hadn't posted this, I'd not have been reminded of her greatest expression of how evil can bring out the power of good.

[Illumination]

26. Know that Maya & Oprah were friends. They seemed to have a very close friendship. Maybe

one reason was because they both had similar backgrounds of abuse...

[demtenjeep]

30. oh how horrific

to take on that guilt when she should have been given so much grace and love