Maya Angelou’s prose and poetry often raise questions about black identity and how white oppressors have challenged the survival of African heritage over multiple generations. However, this oppression has also had a motivating effect, as Angelou outlines in numerous works how the suffering of her African ancestors inspired the strength and resilience of their descendants—African Americans like herself. Unfortunately, history often repeats itself: just as the Africans described in “Africa” were subjected to slavery and sexual violence in colonial times, their descendants in America and around the world have fought, generation after generation, against racism and the incivilities that arise from it.
Maya Angelou was a political activist, working alongside Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. during the civil rights movement. During her time in Africa, she continued to fight for the civil rights movement in America through protests at the American Embassy. Her book, All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, reflects on the meaning of identity among the people of the African diaspora. In this memoir, she conveys her journey to find a sense of individual and collective belonging as an African American woman, both in Africa and America. During the 1960s, the Black Consciousness Movement sought to defend the political rights and cultural heritage of the African people. This anti-apartheid social movement took root in South Africa after the banning of African political parties and the Sharpeville Massacre. In this massacre, numerous black Africans were killed during a protest against laws restricting their free movement into cities. The Black Consciousness Movement resisted what activists considered to be the condescending values of white people. Among other things, the movement advocated for the use of traditional dialect from African cultures. They insisted that in order for black people to take back their political power, they needed to first believe in the power of their blackness. Physical liberation began with psychological liberation from white oppression.
Through her simple yet moving poetry, Angelou honors her ancestors, preserves their rich heritage, and gives them a voice by bringing their stories to life.
