Dr. Maya Angelou: Renaissance & Phenomenal
Written by Ella Tarver Sunday September 25, 2011 10:47pm
**This interview was conducted by The City Insight and was originally featured in the "Phenomenal Women Issue" of The City Insight's print magazine: SPECIAL EXTENDED ISSUE JUNE/JULY/AUGUST 2011 - All rights reserved
Renaissance and phenomenal, Maya Angelou represents numerous talents to many people: a poet, memoirist, educator, director, actress, historian, singer, dancer, television producer, playwright, filmmaker, civil rights activist, mother, friend, but most of all, an inspiration.
There is only one person that all of these gifts describe and that is Maya Angelou.
Dr. Maya Angelou is one of the most honored writers of her generation. She has written several books, such as “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”, which earned her a National Book Award nomination, “Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie”, which earned her a Pulitzer Prize nomination, in addition to fourteen other publications. As a side note, there is one book in which Dr. Angelou served on the Editorial Advisory Board that is a “must read” and one of my favorites, which is “African American: Voices of Triumph - Perseverance” by Time Life Books. Dr. Angelou, who was inducted into the National Women’s Hall of Fame was also honored by musician Ben Harper with his song “I’ll Rise”, which used the words from Dr. Angelou’s poem “Still I Rise”. Dr. Angelou has received over thirty honorary degrees and numerous medals such as the National Medal of the Arts, the Lincoln Medal, and most recently this past February, the Presidential Medal of Freedom, presented by President Barack Obama. So, clearly whenever you hear the words, “phenomenal” or “renaissance woman”, you immediately think of the one and the only, Dr. Maya Angelou.
I had the honor of talking with Dr. Angelou about how she ended up in Winston-Salem, North Carolina and who inspires her amongst other things.
You have lived in such places as Arkansas, San Francisco, New York, Europe and Ghana to name a few, what made you settle in Winston Salem?
A marriage of mine; which was the best marriage I ever had and to my surprise and dismay, failed. My husband was a builder and had his business in the San Francisco area. We had been very good friends before the marriage, so I respected the friendship too much to stay in San Francisco. Particularly, I would regularly frequent our favorite restaurant and at times we would both be there with our replacements. This just wasn’t the adult thing to do. I knew I could write anywhere, but his building company was there and he couldn’t move. So I started looking. I was on a lecture tour around the country and the only places I really liked; actually, the only two places were Cambridge, Massachusetts and Winston Salem, North Carolina. There wasn’t much of a contest, since I didn’t like snow. Since it rarely snowed in Winston Salem, I made it my home. I had friends there and already had contact with Wake Forest University. I was offered the Reynolds Professorship, of which I explained to the President and the Dean that I would work for a year, and if I like it, I would work an additional year. At first, I really did not realize I was a teacher. I use to think I was a writer who could teach, but understood later that I am a teacher, who can write. So I’ve stayed a total of 29 years.
We are glad that you chose Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
It seems to have chosen me too.
One of your first performances was Ruby in the opera Porgy and Bess. What did you like most about your character and touring Europe during the fifties?
My character was Sportin’ Life’s girlfriend, who could sing some and dance well; however, I was a trained dancer who could also sing. The other singers were great, and since there were so few places for trained black singers to work in European classics, the company could pull together a person who had two degrees from Juilliard and Curtis, just to be in the chorus. When I said I could sing, I noticed that some already knew it, and they also knew that I loved dancing. I had a chance to tour throughout Europe and North Africa. It gave me a chance to test my languages of which I spoke, that allowed me to learn them better. My French and Italian improved, and I had the first introduction to Arabic when I was in Morocco and Cairo, Egypt.
So I understand you speak six languages.
Oh at least.
Which one do you think is the most poetic?
English
English …o.k.
English has flight ability and elasticity so it can absorb other languages. Many of the words we use are really words from other languages, which I like. I also like the fact that language is only a device or tool for human beings to use to speak to each other to say things like I am hungry, I am cold, do you like me, or where can I find a good school for my children. Language is a device and English is a wonderful device.
Fantasia Barrino, a North Carolinian performed “Summertime” on American Idol. How do you think her performance would have been received in the early years of Porgy and Bess?
She is a wonderful singer. There were singers who sang it, and they would have sang it much differently from her version. Her version was valid and theirs were valid. When a great artist takes over a piece of work, whether it is a song, a role in a play, a piece of choreography, or a piece of music written by someone else, he or she makes it his or her own. It will come out differently. For example, if a song is sung by Madonna, and that same song is sung by Mary J Blige, they would be absolutely different. There is not one better than the other, just different.
James Baldwin was a remarkable person from his literary style to his actions as a civil rights activist. How did he inspire you?
He encouraged me and was so brilliant. His courage inspired me then and continues to inspire me now. He told the truth and told it so well that it could not be denied. You can tell facts. Facts can obscure the truth until the truth never gets mentioned. They can say the places where the people are, who, the time when, and the reasons why, etc. They never talk about the human, so Baldwin had the courage to see the ability to say what he saw, and the talent to write it down exquisitely. He was a brother to me, and I miss him a great deal now, even all these years.
Mr. Baldwin was one of the first people to encourage you to write, is that correct?
He encouraged me, but I had been writing a long time.
North Carolina has many phenomenal women. Who are some that are close to you?
I think of friends like Elizabeth Phillips, who died last year. She was the Chair of the English Department at Wake Forest and there is Dr. Velma Watts. I think of Attorney
Annie Kennedy with her husband and two sons, who founded Kennedy, Kennedy, Kennedy & Kennedy, LLP. Mrs. Kennedy was also in the State legislature. Virginia Mure comes to mind, who is really brilliant, courageous, funny and a loyal friend. I have a Japanese sister friend, Kikuko Imamura, who is a remarkable woman and a Greek sister friend who has been at Chapel Hill forever, Professor of Logistics, Maria Tsipera. Women who are funny, clever and courageous, black and white, Asian and Hispanic, of all colors and all creeds which are serious enough to be funny.
When you wrote “I know Why the Cage Bird Sings”, what were your expectations and did you imagine the impact it would have?
No, I had no idea. I agreed to write it because I was really tricked by James Baldwin and my editor at Random House. I was a poet and I went with James Baldwin to a friend’s house, and we all talked. The next day one of the women, the wife of our friend, called my editor and asked him if he knew the poet, Maya Angelou, and he said he’d heard of me. Then she told my editor that if he can get Maya Angelou to write a book about her childhood, you will have a best seller. So he telephoned me and I said “no”. He then asked about an autobiography, and I said “no thanks, I am a poet and playwright.” He then called three or four times during the time I went out to California to attend one of our programs, a series for PBS. So I went out there to produce it, and he telephoned me, and I said again, “no thank you”. He said, “Ms. Angelou, it is probably best you don’t attempt to write an autobiography because an autobiography is almost never really literature, it’s sort of impossible.” I said “well maybe I will try it” because I am sure he talked with James Baldwin, who told him if you want Maya Angelou to do something, tell her she can’t do it. I’m sure of it. He will never admit, but I am sure and that is how I came to write “I Know Why Caged Bird Sings”.
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