Going home with Maya Angelou [22:05mins]
An interview from 1982 in which Maya Angelou returned to the small town of Stamps, Arkansas, where she spent much of her childhood.
And still I rise
By Maya Angelou
You may write me down in history
With your bitter, twisted lies,
You may trod me in the very dirt
But still, like dust, I'll rise.
Does my sassiness upset you?
Why are you beset with gloom?
’Cause I walk like I've got oil wells
Pumping in my living room.
Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes springing high,
Still I'll rise.
Did you want to see me broken?
Bowed head and lowered eyes?
Shoulders falling down like teardrops,
Weakened by my soulful cries?
Does my haughtiness offend you?
Don't you take it awful hard
’Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines
Diggin’ in my own backyard.
You may shoot me with your words,
You may cut me with your eyes,
You may kill me with your hatefulness,
But still, like air, I’ll rise.
Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I've got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?
Maya Angelou Live and Unplugged [37:05min]
A performance of her poems by Maya Angelou in front of an audience of 5000 people. Her poem, And still I rise, can be found at 33:24min.
Maya Angelou, Academy Class of 1990, Full Interview [1:16:02min].
An interview with Maya Angelou from 1997 in which she talks about civil rights, Martin Luther King [2:12min], character-building experiences [17:48min], on being a silent child [19:20min], experiences of discrimination [21:21min], Malcolm X [32:09min], affirmative action [36:10min], conditions on Native American reservations [40:41min], Dr King's dream [43:31min], the power of positive peer pressure [55:49min], interest in historic African American poetry & positive influences[1:03:27min], if Dr King hadn't been around in the 1950s & 1960s [1:09:27min].
