Global Renaissance Woman

The world is still mourning the loss of famed poet, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou who was found dead in her university apartment last week.

For many who have been following her life and her extensive work in various fields, there could never be enough words to describe what her death means, not only to Americans, but citizens all over the world. Her work and her life story in general have inspired millions to not only better themselves but to help others achieve their own dreams and overcome their own adversities.

Described as a Global Renaissance Woman, Maya Angelou was one of the most renowned and influential voices of our time. Born on April 4, 1928, in St Louis, Missouri, Angelou was raised in St Louis and Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, Angelou experienced the brutality of racial discrimination, but she also absorbed the unshakable faith and values of traditional African-American family, community, and culture.

As a teenager, Angelou’s love for the arts won her a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco’s Labour School. At 14, she dropped out to become San Francisco’s first African-American female cable car conductor. As a young single mother, she supported her son by working as a waitress and cook; however, her passion for music, dance, performance, and poetry would soon take centre stage.

During her years abroad, Angelou read and studied voraciously, mastering several languages. While in Ghana, she met with Malcolm X and, in 1964, returned to America to help him build his new Organisation of African American Unity. Soon after Malcolm X’s assassination, Dr Martin Luther King Jr asked Angelou to serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. King’s assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated.

With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’, which later received international acclaim and enormous popular success. The list of her published verse, non-fiction, and fiction now includes more than 30 bestselling titles.

A trailblazer in film and television, Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film “Georgia, Georgia”. Her script, the first by an African-American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Angelou has received over 50 honorary degrees and up until her death, she was a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

Angelou’s words and actions will continue to stir our souls, energise our bodies, liberate our minds, and heal our hearts. When her friend Nelson Mandela passed away last year, Angelou wrote that “No sun outlasts its sunset, but will rise again, and bring the dawn”.

Paying tribute, U.S. President Barack Obama hailed her as “one of the brightest lights of our time–a brilliant writer, a fierce friend, and a truly phenomenal woman”.

Obama was quoted as saying that a childhood of suffering and abuse actually drove her to stop speaking–“but the voice she found helped generations of Americans find their rainbow amidst the clouds, and inspired the rest of us to be our best selves.” He also presented her with the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Angelou also received the Presidential Medal for the Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008. And in 2012, First Lady Michelle Obama had the opportunity to present her with the Literary Arts Award at the BET Honours ceremony in Washington, DC.

In the words of the U.S. First Lady; “Maya Angelou teaches us that it’s not enough merely to seek greatness for ourselves. We must help others discover the greatness within themselves. We need to reach down and reach out, and give back, and lift others the way Maya has lifted us.”