“We are more alike than unalike … Everybody born comes from the Creator trailing wisps of glory.” – Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou entered this world as Marguerite Annie Johnson in 1928. She was born in St. Louis, Missouri, to a doorman and a nurse, with an older brother as her only sibling. It was her brother who nicknamed her Maya, and the name took hold for the remainder of her life. Maya lived a total of 86 years, with more experiences than most ever put into a lifetime. Her accomplishments are staggering and quite varied! The Maya I was familiar with came from her poetic sayings that I used in my classroom to inspire middle school students. I knew very little of Maya beyond the fact that she was a poet and civil rights activist. But, oh my! She was so much more.
If you’d like a summary of her accomplishments, they are easy enough to find in the sources I’ve referenced below. For my Reflection, however, I’d like to focus on Maya’s childhood and what contributed to her passion for writing – and to her desire to address the prejudices inherent in the social inequalities of that era.
At age seven, Maya was brutally raped by a boyfriend of her mother’s. The courts gave the boyfriend a one-day stay in prison, after which Maya’s uncles oversaw his murder, most likely enraged by the leniency of the courts. Maya was left traumatized, not only by the rape, but by the overwhelming feeling that she alone was responsible for her aggressor’s death. Due to the trauma, and accompanied by child-like guilt, she became mute for a period of five years.
At age eight, Maya and her brother were relocated to live in Stamps, Arkansas, with her paternal grandmother. Maya’s grandmother owned and operated a store in Stamps, and knew just about everyone. The town’s people came to know Maya as the silent grandchild of Annie Henderson, general store proprietor. While Maya didn’t speak, she did observe – colors in nature, smells, and people! She noticed the idiosyncrasies of store patrons and learned to watch facial expressions and tone of voice. Though voiceless, she grew in wisdom by her sharpened senses and keen observation skills.
Maya also developed a passion for reading, including classical writers such as William Shakespeare and poets like Edgar Allen Poe. They put to words emotions she couldn’t conjure up to speak, but felt keenly in her self-imposed verbal isolation. By reading the words of prolific writers and silently observing life from the sidelines, Maya developed a sensitivity to others that resonated in her own writings the rest of her life. Toward the end of Maya’s five years of silence, a townswoman named Bertha Flowers entered Maya’s life. She invited Maya to sit with her while she read aloud, and then encouraged Maya to read aloud herself, even if she needed to crawl beneath her bed to read aloud in isolation. Bertha’s mentorship and encouragement meant much to Maya, who emerged from her silence to become a great orator and writer as she grew into womanhood.
Maya’s first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published in 1969 and brought her international recognition. I have felt almost overwhelmed at the breadth and scope of Maya’s endeavors, however, one thought has remained with me during the whole of this Reflection. … What if Maya never found her voice? What if she just crumbled and never left the secure insulation of being mute? Dear Lord, we thank you for Maya’s grandmother who gave her safety and shelter. We thank you for Bertha Flowers who encouraged Maya to find her lost voice. It truly does take a village, as the saying goes. We thank you, as well, for Maya Angelou who has inspired multitudes through her gift of words! As Maya herself said, may each of us “trail wisps of glory” every day as we individually reach out to our hurting world.
Blessings to all,
Diana
Resources:
Caged Bird Legacy LLC, Continuing the Life Work of Maya Angelou, https://www.mayaangelou.com/
Poetry Foundation – Maya Angelou, https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou
Wikipedia – Maya Angelou, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou
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