A woman who survived the unsurvivable and wrote it all down so the rest of us would know we could too.
Marguerite Annie Johnson was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. After surviving childhood trauma and years of selective mutism, she emerged as one of the most commanding voices in American literature. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, became the first autobiography by a Black woman to become a bestseller and is still taught in schools worldwide. She worked as a dancer, singer, actress, journalist, and civil rights organizer alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. before becoming a poet laureate whose work crossed every cultural boundary. She recited her poem 'On the Pulse of Morning' at Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration. She received the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Angelou died on May 28, 2014, having published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry.
“I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel.”
“You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them.”
Gave a voice to Black women's experience at the intersection of race, gender, and trauma—and proved that survival narrated beautifully is its own form of resistance.
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