English1102 eCampus

1. Maya Angelou
“The Woman and The
Writings”
By: La Teasha Dyer

2. Who is Maya Angelou?
 Born Marguerite Ann Johnson, April 4,
1928.
 Poet
 Autobiographer
 Activist
 Writer

3. “I Know Why The Caged Bird
Sings”
 Her Inspiration
 Her life story growing
up as a child.
 This story tells us who
Maya Angelou is in
her own words-the
autobiography.

4. What’s The Story?
 “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”, tells mostly the story of
Maya Angelou being raped by her mother’s boyfriend
causing her to be mute for almost five years.
 This book also tells of her and her brother moving and the
divorce of their parents.

5. The Controversy
 Although “I Know Why The Caged Bird
Sings” won Maya Angelou many
awards it was still banned in most
schools because of its bold and daring
stories.

6. The Poet
 Maya Angelou is
most known for her
poem
“Phenomenal
Woman” and “And
Still I Rise”

7. What It Means
“And Still I Rise”  This poem encourages not
“You may shoot me with
only women, but all people
your words, to keep their heads high
You may cut me with  These lines mean that
your eyes, no matter what
You may kill me with
your hatefulness, anyone does or says
But still, like air, I'll they cannot bring
rise…” Maya’s spirit down
and she will always be
happy and move
upward in life.

8. “Phenomenal Woman”

9. The Meaning of it All
 “Pretty women wonder where my  “Phenomenal Woman” is a poem
secret lies. written by Maya Angelou that
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion encourages woman.
model's size  These line iterate the words of a
But when I start to tell them, young lady who finds herself to be
They think I'm telling lies. phenomenal even though her body
I say, isn’t what society thinks her body
It's in the reach of my arms should be.
The span of my hips,  It also tells of how this
The stride of my step, women makes even the
The curl of my lips. prettiest of woman jealous
I'm a woman because they don’t
Phenomenally. understand where she gets
Phenomenal woman, her beauty from.
That's me…”

10. Conclusion
 Among many other things Maya Angelou is
a poet and an autobiographer whose words
bring true meaning and wisdom to all it’s
readers and listeners around the world. Her
expression of true beauty, perseverance,
pain, and joy is what makes Maya Angelou
truly unique to her own rights.

11. Maya’s Quotes
 “A bird doesn't sing because it has an answer,
it sings because it has a song.”
 “The main thing in one's own private world is to
try to laugh as much as you cry.”

12. Works Cited
Angelou, Maya. ”The Poetry
of.”web.18July2009.<http://www.empirezine.com/s
potlight/maya/maya-p1.htm>.
Galiano, Amanda. “Extraordinary Human
Being.”web.18July2009.<http://littlerock.about.com/
cs/musicbooks/a/mayaangelou.htm>.
Johnson Lewis, Jone. “Maya Angelou
Quotes.”web.18July2009.<http://womenshistory.abo
ut.com/cs/quotes/a/qu_maya_angelou.htm>.