Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise (2016)

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Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise was released on October 14, 2016, in the USA. The movie storyline was written and directed by Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack. The movie was about the exceptional writer, poet, and civil rights activist of African American, Maya Angelou[1].

Plot

Maya Angelou[2]

As said by Hillary Clinton, Maya Angelou should not be remembered for only her classic work "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". In the film, it is shown how Maya Angelou's childhood affects her way of thinking. Her parents leave her and her brothers, then she gets raped at the age of seven years old by her mother's new boyfriend just after Angelou reunited with her mother in St Louis. The guy then gets arrested and later found to be dead as he has been beaten to death in the prison. The death makes her believe that her words were responsible for the death, and she decided to be mute for 5 years. After learning poetry, she finds her voice again and develops into a dancer. She moves to San Fransisco and gives birth to Guy Johnson, her son. As Angelou develops her work in poetry, directing, singing, dancing, and writing, she gets many achievements throughout her lifetime. She also involves in the civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In the end, she is praised as a figure of African Americans in black female empowerment and creativity world for African Americans are opened[3].

Black Empowerment

Maya Angelou shows how to fight racism without violence. She goes down on a road and joins a demonstration with a poster "Victim of Racism". She collaborates with many other civil rights activists of African Americans such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. His fight is done through his poetry and writing. Such as the Still I Rise poem, an empowering poem of an African American whose dreams get shattered, mocked, and still she rises. Her work is recognized and praised by many people including Valerie Simpson, Bill, and Hillary Clinton. She shows that an African American should be grateful for the gift that they get from their ancestors and can still rise and obtain their dreams no matter how racism bring pains to them[4]. Eventually, President Bill Clinton wanted Maya Angelou to appear in his inauguration and delivered her poet as he believes that black and white Americans have many things in common as they come from the same place[5].

Controversy

She was born in a racist part of the country. During her childhood, when the Ku Klux Klan came to town and visit a surrounding store, Maya Angelou would hide her uncle as she's afraid that her hot-tempered uncle could create a fight and eventually made her uncle beaten or even lynched[6]. It is seen where her work and dance are not recognized by people at first as they refer to her face as "ugly". Not only that, the school at the time is divided into 2 types of school. As being African American, she has to go to a black school where the school is not as good as the other school for white people[7].

References

  1. Maya Angelou and Still I Rise (2016). IMDb. Retrieved January 14 2021
  2. Maya Angelou. Indiewire. Retrieved January 14 2021
  3. Maya Angelou and Still I Rise Review Iconic Writer. The Guardian. Retrieved January 14 2021
  4. Maya Angelou and Still I Rise. RogerEbert. Retrieved January 14 2021
  5. Hermene Hartman. Review: Maya Angelou – And Still I Rise. N'Digo. Retrieved February 01 2021
  6. Maureen Ryan. TV Review: ‘Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise,’ An American Masters Documentary on PBS. Yahoo. Retrieved February 01 2021
  7. Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise. Spirituality and Practice. Retrieved January 14 2021