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Maya Angelou at the Discovery 2000 Conference ||> == Biography ==
 * == Maya Angelou ==

 **MAYA ANGELOU was born on April 4,1928 in Marguerite Johnson, St. Louis, Missouri. Maya spent most of her childhood life with her grandmother and brother Bailey starting at age three, due to the divorce of her parents. While living in the south, Maya was exposed to racial discrimination and credits her grandmother and brother who nicknamed her Maya, for her successful career. While visiting her mother in Chicago, at age seven, she was sexually molested by her mothers boyfriend. Feeling mortified, Maya didn't feel comfortable telling anyone but her brother. Later she found out that her uncle killed her attacker; because of this, Maya did not speak for five years. Maya began to speak again at age thirteen when her and her bother rejoined her mother in San Franciso. While attending Mission High School, she was awarded a schlorship to study dance and drama at San Francisco 's labor school. Maya later dropped out to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor. After returning to high she became pregnant her senior year, and luckily was able to graduate before giving birth to her son Guy. Maya left home at sixteen while working as a waitress trying to raise her son as a single mother. She later married Tosh Angelos, a greek sailor, in 1952. Her marriage didn't last long, but her career started to flourish. She soon recorded her first album Calypso Lady in 1957. Maya then moved to Harlem, were she joined the Harlem Writers Guild. These people were a ssociated with the civil rights movement. In 1960 she married South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make. Angelou and her son then moved to Ghana were she became an instructor at the University of Ghana's School Music and Drama. Maya moved back to America in 1964, to help Macolm X build his new organization of African American unity. Macolm X was assainated and his dreams died with him. Maya continued to work with the civil rights movement with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and was devasted when he got assainated on her birthday in 1968. She found solace in writing. Her famous book I know Why the Caged Bird Sings tells her life from living in Arkansas to giving birth to her child. This book was published in 1970 and was a huge success. Throughout Maya's eighty years of pain and joy today, she is known for her attributes as a successful poet, historian, author, songwriter, playwright, dancer, director,and etc. Maya has been invited by former US Presidents to serve and also served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies, at Wake Forest University, since 1981. The list of her published works now include more than 30 titles. Today, Maya Angelou is still a professor at Wake Forest University, and is a voice to young women of today, and a blessing to those who read her work.** || == Poetry links      ==

**Explication of Phenomenal Woman**
 * * [|Phenomenal Woman]
 * [|Woman Work]
 * [|Still I Rise]
 * [|Touched By An Angel]
 * [|They Went Home]
 * [|Weekend Glory]
 * [|When You Come]
 * [|Alone]
 * [|The Lesson]
 * [|The Detached]
 * [|Refusal]
 * [|Remembrance]
 * [|Insomniac]
 * [|Men]  ||> [[image:http://www.stacywest.com/PORTRAITS/mayaangelou.jpg width="241" height="213"]] ||

**The poem "Phenomenal Woman" is an example of one of the many poems Maya Angelou has written. The poem adresses Maya Angelou as a Phenomenal Woman. Maya speaks with confidence and self assurance, and it also reveals her inner beauty. "Phenomenally. Phenomenal woman, that's me." means that Maya considers her self as a phenomenal woman despite what others may think. The audience is women who seek confidence and self assurance. This poem was most likely written on a summer day, while walking outside into the fresh air. Maya uses her characteristics of beauty to explain why she is truly a Phenomenal Woman. ** <span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);">**Maya's tone is very uplifting and encouraging. The tone is achieved by her selection of words and descriptions. Maya's motivation was to let women know that they can be very independent. Throughout the poem, Maya uses foreshadowing as a way to get the reader invovled. "Its the reach of my arms, the span of my hips, the stride of my step, and the curl of my lips." This stanza creates an image for the reader to better understand the meaning of the poem. The symbols in this poem deals with her body structures. She uses several body parts to explain why she is a Phenomenal Woman.** <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Console', Monaco, monospace;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);">**<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;">Phenomenal Woman is an example of a narrative poem. It is formated in thirteen lines stanzas with the words ''Phenomenally. Phenomenal Woman, that's me'' following every stanza, which is also known as repetition. She also uses many ryhme schemes which, in my opinion makes the poem have a better flow. This poem has had a true impact on women and allows them to see how pretty they really are, despite what others may say. **   <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> **<span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: #5da4ea; font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;">Maya felt compelled to write this poem to explain to woman that although she may not be perfect or "built to suit a fashion models size" as she explains in line 2, she is still a phenomenal and beautiful woman. She believes all women should have confidence. She is trying to motivate women into knowing they are always beautiful and if you believe that you are beautiful others will too. Inner beauty is what really counts and you want to have pride in yourself and present yourself with confidence just as Maya did in the poem. <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);">  **<span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;"> <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"><span style="font-family: 'Lucida Sans Unicode', 'Lucida Grande', sans-serif;">**Maya achieved the purpose of the poem very well. As women read the poem, they realize that they are beautiful and phenomenal just as Maya explained herself. This is why Maya Angelou is so successful because she gets points across so well to the audience in which she wants it to effect. Each poem touches a different group of people in many different ways. The poem "Phenomenal Woman" happens to effect all women and I believe each woman that reads the poem, will get a positive outlook on the poem and hopefully pass on the message that Maya is trying to convey throughout the poem.** <span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><span style="color: rgb(93,164,234);"> <span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">

A Museum of Living History. "Academy of Achievements." (1961). http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ang0bio-1 (Retrieved on 11 Nov. 2008)
 * Sources**