Maya Angelou: One Who Turned Her Life into an Inspiration

Maya AngelouClinton Library - William J. Clinton Presidential Library, Public DomainIn the article “The Psychology Behind Superhero Origin Stories,” Robin Rosenberg states, “At their best, superhero origin stories inspire us and provide models of coping with adversity, finding meaning in loss and trauma, discovering our strengths and using them for good purpose” (Rosenberg 8). Heroes are people who overcome their tough pasts and use them to inspire others. However, we are so focused on the assumption that heroes need to do something extraordinary that we often overlook the everyday heroes: normal, average human beings who try to untangle someone else’s life even through the knots in their own. A hero can be of any age, race, or gender, and they can impact as little of a group as one person or as big of a group as a whole nation. A dedicated mother, a judge who brought true justice to a court, a friend who provided emotional support, a teacher who stayed up at night to prepare a lesson, or even a younger sibling who brought a smile to your face; they are all heroes who not only gave up something of their own, but did their best to benefit someone else. To me, a person who has gone through hardships but is selfless enough to put one’s own needs aside and determined enough to fight for others deserves to be called a hero.

Portrait of Maya AngelouAdria Richards [CC BY-SA 2.0 (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0)]An individual who underwent many obstacles in her life, yet maintained her heroic qualities of selflessness and commitment, is Maya Angelou. Maya Angelou was an American author, poet, performer, and civil rights activist born on April 4th, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Born to Vivian and Bailey Baxter as Marguerite Ann Johnson, Maya Angelou went through a childhood that no one should go through. At school, the white children teased and discriminated against Angelou, just for being a black girl. After her parents got divorced, her mother sent Angelou to live with her paternal grandmother. When she returned back to her mother at the age of eight, her mother’s boyfriend sexually molested and raped Angelou. In fear, Angelou told her brother that Mr. Freeman raped her, and as a result, Mr. Freeman was beaten to death; Angelou thought she was responsible for his death and did not speak for nearly six years. After high school graduation, Angelou had a son with a boy from her school. She led a troublesome life, which included two divorces and multiple rejections from jobs. However, she pursued her dream of becoming an author and published her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" in 1970. Following this, she wrote numerous books, poems, and plays, which all illuminated common human struggles such as racism and civil rights. On January 20, 1993, Angelou recited one of her most famous speeches, “On the Pulse of Morning,” at Bill Clinton’s Inauguration ceremony. She received many different awards for her achievements, one of them being the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011. Leaving a monumental legacy and inspiration to the world, Angelou passed away at the age of 86 on May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Even through her challenging childhood, Angelou demonstrated selflessness by striving for the benefit of others more than striving to fulfill her own needs. She put her longing for her mother and her ethical values aside to achieve the greater cause. Angelou further encapsulated the definition of a hero by using her talent of writing to fight for what others could not say. It is not through the number of awards she received, but rather through her willingness to devote herself to a greater cause at the expense of her own mental health and her determination to use her leadership and position to become a voice for the less fortunate that Maya Angelou depicts the meaning of a true hero.

In a society filled with narcissistic people, Angelou proved herself to be selfless by putting her own needs aside to achieve a greater good, which was always to bring peace an love to others. Angelou demonstrated her selflessness when she was stabbed in the leg by her father’s girlfriend. If the town heard that Angelou’s father’s girlfriend stabbed a little girl, it would not reflect well on the family and the town would fall into gossip, which would ultimately lead to violence. Therefore, although Angelou was a young teenager at the time and wanted the comfort of her mother to ease her pain, she decided to not go back to her mother: “I could go home to Mother, but I couldn’t. I could never succeed in shielding the gash in my side… And if I failed to hide the wound, we were certain to experience another scene of violence” (Angelou 246). Angelou recognized that if she acted to fulfill her own needs, she would create a serious drama within the town. While most other individuals would have chosen their mother over a random town of people, Angelou did the unexpected. Even from a young age, Angelou considered the consequences and the effects it would have on those around her. Like a true hero, she put her own needs aside because the peace of the town mattered more than her longing for her mother. A hero must value the safety and well-being of others more than him or herself, enough to dismiss his or her selfish longings. In addition, Angelou demonstrated selflessness while raising a son as a young mother. While Angelou could have easily dropped off her son at an orphanage, she never gave up on her son and selflessly put her son’s needs before hers: “As an unwed teenage mother, Angelou worked an assortment of menial jobs… When the marriage ended, Angelou supported herself and her son by dancing at a strip club in San Francisco” (Shaw 7). Although working as a dancer at a strip club was unscrupulous and damaging to her mental and physical health, Angelou took the job because her body and her ethics did not matter to her as much as her son did. Like a hero, Angelou risked her emotional and physical health to protect and surround her son’s life with love. One of the most important things one can do as a hero is sacrificing him- or herself and needs for the “greater good,” which should always be about bringing love to not him- or herself, but to something bigger: the cries and thirsts of others. Maya Angelou was always willing to give up something of herself for the benefit of others, which helped her to bring peace and love to those around her.

Maya Angelou with Governor Jim Martin at the North Carolina Awards, 6 November 1987State Archives of North Carolina [No restrictions]Additionally, because Angelou made the world aware of concepts that were frequently dismissed due to their sensitive nature, she was able to use her voice to speak for people who were not able to express their opinions in the spotlight, and became a leader. In her autobiography "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," Angelou reflected on the status that African American women held and how they were looked down upon by society: “The fact that the adult American Negro female emerges a formidable character is often met with amazement, distaste, and even belligerence. It is seldom accepted as an inevitable outcome of the struggle won by survivors and deserves respect if not enthusiastic acceptance” (Angelou 268). By writing her thoughts into a book, Angelou illuminated and brought the whole world’s attention to the subject of under-appreciated Black women all over the world and became their voice. By becoming voice for the less fortunate, she lead the group out into the world and encouraged them to express their opinions to the world. It was through this commitment of being a leader and her keen observations that she was able to step outside the box and really reflect on the true characteristics of the world. Like a hero, Angelou made a commitment to become a voice for the people who stood behind the topics, by bringing light to ignored topics. A true leader does not just stand in front of a group but elucidates the subjects that are overlooked by society. Furthermore, not only did Angelou illuminate the topic of Black women, but she also illuminated numerous controversial topics. Although Angelou went through tough experiences as a child, rather than drown in her sorrows, she took her stories and transformed them into a wonderful life lesson that covers many emotional themes that still speak to the world today: “While Angelou writes of deeply personal issues, such as her childhood rape in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970), her vividly expressed struggles with racism, sexuality, sexism, identity, and family speak to the rapidly changing culture of twentieth century America” (Shaw 19). Through the exploration of many themes, she revealed the hard truth about what was going on in the world. These themes were not merely meant to show her views but to stand for the normal people who did not have the status or the voice to influence the world. As a famous writer who got a lot of attention, she committed to her role of transforming her words into universal messages that represented the people behind the subject. All heroes use their voice for a cause; they bring light to overlooked topics in order to represent and voice the opinions of those whom the unsightly masks of racial and gender discrimination, identity crisis, and other prejudiced subjects deteriorated. If it was not for her determination to expose the world to sensitive topics through her words, Angelou would not have become a voice for the less fortunate people around her and become the honorable hero she is today.

Overall, Maya Angelou is the epitome of a true hero; not for her achievements in life, but the selfless way she treated others and the dedication she had to become a voice for others through illuminating sensitive but neglected subjects. Angelou strived to fulfill the needs of others at the cost of her own longings and herself. She also exhibited her determination to lead groups that society did not give attention to or ignored as a whole. Angelou used her voice for a cause that changed the world for the better. What makes Maya Angelou really rise up above other people, however, is that she was still able to demonstrate these heroic traits even after what she went through during her childhood. Angelou experienced a great deal of trauma, yet she did not let this stop her from reaching her full potential: “One who has made her life her message and whose message to all aspiring Black women is the reconstruction of her experiential 'self,' is Maya Angelou” (“Maya Angelou.” Contemporary Black Biography 12). By using her painful past, turning it into a powerful message, Angelou made me realize that if she could overcome her trauma of being sexually assaulted and become a famous figure that embellishes and improves the world with her love, I can overcome my self-doubt, as it is nothing compared to Maya Angelou’s past. Before getting to know about Angelou, I had always thought about what role I had in this world. And thinking realistically, I was only one dot out of billions of dots in the world. I had always thought, what is one tiny speck going to do to change the world? Nobody knows who I am—I don't even know who I am—why would it matter if I did do anything “heroic”? However, Angelou’s story taught me that even when it seems like the world has given up on me, if I believe in myself, I can truly make a difference. Ever since, I have been practicing flute and playing for the elderly at a retirement home once a month. Although I am not changing the world, it is because of Maya Angelou that I started to believe in myself and my ability to make a mark on someone else’s life. For now, I am only influencing the few seniors listening to my music, but I want to eventually find my own message so that I can start my own movement and leave a legacy for others. True heroes help us find the meaning in our lives and pull us out of the dark by finding the message hidden behind their painful experiences and using them to empower people. The first step to heroism is overcoming your adversity, but the most important step is deciding what you are going to do with your story, your life.

Works Cited

Angelou, Maya, and Oprah Winfrey. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House, 2015.

"Maya Angelou." Contemporary Black Biography, vol. 15, Gale, 1997. Biography in Context,

Accessed 21 Dec. 2017.

Rosenberg, Robin. “The Psychology Behind Superhero Origin Stories.” Smithsonian.com,

Smithsonian Institution, 1 Feb. 2013.

Shaw, Taylor. "Maya Angelou." Great Lives from History: African Americans, Oct. 2010, p. 7.

EBSCOhost, Accessed 21 Dec. 2017.