Maya Angelou Still I Rise

In her poem, “Still I Rise” she talks about race and racism very much in depth. She not only talks about examples of racism she has endured but also talking about how she fights against it. She also talks about how the race that she is has shaped her as a person. This poem is centralized around race and racism by giving every aspect of how racism exists and what people have had to go through in our country. It teaches you that no matter racist things that people may say to always try to be the bigger person and rise above it. She also teaches that no matter what someone may say to another person you can always choose how you respond to it. To fully understand how Maya Angelou has contributed to the conversation on race and racism, gender
That it is an art that unites us more than divides us. That it is a universal language that everyone can relate to. She believes that the power that poetry has can even save people. Going as far as saying in an interview, “Poetry has kept us alive.”
Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up was not painless for Maya. When she was very young her parents split up and because of this had to go live her father's mother in Arkansas. A very southern state that during that time had Jim Crow laws. Growing up she had to endure racial slurs and discrimination. Not only was life hard as an african- american kid because of the racist south but she also had a burden because she was a girl. She got raped at the age of 7 by her mothers boyfriend, while visiting her. As revenge for what this boyfriend did to Maya her uncles killed him. She couldn’t handle all the hurt she got from the discrimination in the south, or the hurt from the rape, or the guilt from the murder. So when she returned to Arkansas she became a mute that wouldn’t talk for the next years. To get through all of these hardships she starting writing. At a very young age she always loved to write. Reading and writing poetry helped her