Maya journey starts in Stamps, Arkansas as a child. Maya had a brother, once together, after their parents’ abandon them. Bailey, her brother was sent to live with their devout grandmother. But Maya being left behind when at age eight, she was sexually abused by her mother’s boyfriend. Maya told of how he, her mother’s boyfriend sexually abused her and he was murdered in cold blood. This traumatic experience led Maya to stop speaking for years, believing her words caused his death. Maya had a mentor, Mrs. Flowers through her encouragement Maya found her voice again. Mrs. Flowers had a deep love for literature, Maya slowly embraced literature and after a wait fell in love with reading books of every kind. As Maya grew into a young girl later they moving to California and as she continued to grow, Maya overcame racism and prejudice. Becoming the first African-American female streetcar conductor in San Francisco through resilience. Maya love for reading books caused her to write literature. With Maya developing identity she became a literal power house significant writer. She wrote books about the resilience of the human spirit over trauma and adversity. Now as a major American literature and poetry figure Maya wrote many books. One major is I Know Why the Cage Bird Sing! Though Maya Angelou started from dirt poor impoverishment she had a inner God gifted talent that was destined to be seen and known.
God Word
Maya Angelou’s faith was centered on the humbling, transformative belief that she was a child of God, loved unconditionally by a divine force. She believed this love fueled her courage to do good works, as articulated in her reflections on “God Loves Me.” She
expressed this faith through her writing, viewing her life as a testament to God’s grace, as seen in her poem “When I say… “I am a Christian” This young independent woman liberated herself through literature her voice of survival.
