The unmistakable voice. The powerful words. One line of verse uttered from her legendary lips and people listen.
This is Maya Angelou. The renowned poet, author and speaker will appear at McArthur Court at 7:30 p.m. Feb. 23.
Angelou will read poetry and discuss issues of race, gender and literacy following a performance by the UO Gospel Ensemble. She will also recite works by famed poet Langston Hughes.
This event, produced by the UO Cultural Forum, marks Angelou’s first appearance in Eugene in five years. Angelou spoke at the Hult Center in 1998, but her upcoming performance will be a first for the University.
Cultural Forum Performing Arts Coordinator Windy Borman said the event gives students a unique opportunity to see this internationally celebrated artist and promises to be a thought-provoking evening for everyone.
“Her style of speaking is very accessible to poets and non-poets,” Borman said.
English Professor Karen Ford, who is currently teaching an African American poetry course, said the appearance is a chance to see a truly riveting reader.
“She recites poems — hers and other poets’ work — from memory, recites them movingly and dramatically,” Ford said. “I’ve always appreciated her attention to making other poets visible even during her
own readings.”
Angelou published her first autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” in 1970 and became the first black author to hold a record for the longest run on the New York Times Paperback Nonfiction Bestseller list.
The book recounted Angelou’s experiences growing up in Arkansas and included reflections on her experiences with racism as well as the trauma of being raped at age eight by her mother’s boyfriend. The man was subsequently murdered by Angelou’s uncles.
According to The Norton Anthology of African American Literature, the incident caused Angelou to believe her words had the power to kill, and consequently sent the young girl into five years of silence. The anthology conveys that in those years of quiet, the woman absorbed the world around her, finally emerging as one of the most commanding voices in literature.
“I write for the black voice and any ear which can hear it,” she has been quoted.
However, Angleou’s achievements reach far beyond the realm of the written word. In addition to her celebrated works of literature and poetry, she has described herself as a dancer, singer, producer, composer, journalist, actor and teacher.
Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. appointed her Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1959.
Her most recent book, “A Song Flung Up in Heaven,” published in 2002, recounts her experiences during this period and the civil rights movement that followed.
During the 60s, she was a prominent journalist in Egypt and Ghana. She has authored six plays and was nominated for an Emmy award for her role in the television series “Roots” in 1977.
Angelou’s 1971 poetry collection, “Give Me a Drink of Water ‘For I Diiie,” was nominated for a Pulitzer, and her 1972 screenplay “Georgia, Georgia” was the first original script penned by a black author to be produced.
Though her stories often depict painful experiences, Angelou carries an enduring message of triumph over the odds. These are lessons that attendees are sure to gain insight from.
In Norton’s Anthology, Angelou described her work in the following way: “All my work is meant to say, ‘You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated.’ In fact, the encountering may be the very experience which creates the vitality and the power to endure.”