Maya Angelou

<body topmargin=0 leftmargin=0 marginheight=0 marginwidth=0> <table cellpadding=0 cellspacing=0 border=0><tr> <td valign="top" colspan=2 height=90 BGCOLOR="#000000" TEXT="#F7F7FF" bgproperties="fixed" background="21d005a0dvldtc.jpg"> <div> <FONT SIZE="5" COLOR="#FFCC00" FACE="Arial" ><B>PT3 Readers are Leaders</B></FONT><FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#0099FF" FACE="Arial" > </FONT> <FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#FF3300" FACE="Arial" ><B> </B></FONT><B>|</B><B>     </B><A HREF="index.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="PT3 Readers are Leaders"><U><B>home</B></U></A></div> <div> <A HREF="home.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Reading Room"><U>Reading Room</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id2.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web Sites about Books"><U>Web Sites about Books</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id33.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Web Reading"><U>Web Reading</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id3.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Authors"><U>Authors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id35.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Writings on the Web"><U>Writings on the Web</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id34.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Writings on the Web"><U> Writings on the Web</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id36.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Recommended Reading for students"><U>Recommended Reading for students</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id6.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Contact Us"><U>Contact Us</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id101.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Multicultural authors"><U>Multicultural authors</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id104.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Multicultural Booklist"><U>Multicultural Booklist</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id105.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE=" Naomi Nye "><U> Naomi Nye </U></A>   |   <A HREF="id106.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Esmeralda Santiago"><U>Esmeralda Santiago</U></A>   |   <B>Maya Angelou</B>   |   <A HREF="id108.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Michael Dorris"><U>Michael Dorris</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id109.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="Rosa Guy"><U>Rosa Guy</U></A>   |   <A HREF="id110.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="_"><U>--Type Title Here--</U></A></div> <div> </div> </td> </tr><tr> <td valign="top" width=190 BGCOLOR="#FFCC00" TEXT="#080000"> <bR> </td> <td valign="top" height=390 BGCOLOR="#FFCC00" TEXT="#080000"> <div> Maya Angelou</div> <div> Maya Angelou</div> <div> I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</div> <div> Compiled by Chris Harris, 2002</div> <div> For Adolescent Literature with Dr. B. Stanford, UALR</div> <div> The official website with booklist:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mayaangelou.com/ShortBio.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mayaangelou.com/ShortBio.html"><U><U>http://www.mayaangelou.com/ShortBio.html</U></U></A></div> <div> Contains personal information, pictures, and a complete booklist included in the link to her long biography.</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/maya/maya1.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/maya"><U><U>http://www.empirezine.com/spotlight/maya/maya1.htm</U></U></A></div> <div> This is a comprehensive site including biographical information, her work in poetry, books, and plays; it contains links to other sites.</div> <div> <I>Reviews of some of her books:</I></div> <div> African American Literature Book Club website for Maya Angelou:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://aalbc.com/authors/maya.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://aalbc.com/authors/maya.htm"><U><U>http://aalbc.com/authors/maya.htm</U></U></A></div> <div> This includes biographical information as well as numerous critical reviews of her writing.</div> <div> <I>African American Culture and History:</I></div> <div> The Library of Congress Resource Guide for the Study of Black History and Culture: </div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intr"><U><U>http://www.loc.gov/exhibits/african/intro.html</U></U></A></div> <div> This site traces the origins of slavery, the fight of the abolitionist, and the great migration after emancipation.</div> <div> This is a Duke university compilation documenting the lives of slave women:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/african-american-women.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collecti"><U><U>http://scriptorium.lib.duke.edu/collections/african-american-women.html</U></U></A></div> <div> This site has numerous links to research sites, especially those relating to research into womenÕs studies and rare documents.</div> <div> How did Jim Crow laws affect the lives of African Americans?</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.africana.com/Utilities/Content.html?&../cgi-bin/banner.pl?banner=Education&../Articles/tt 026.htm" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.africana.com/Utilities/Conten"><U><U>http://www.africana.com/Utilities/Content.html?&../cgi-bin/banner.pl?banner=Education&../Articles/tt 026.htm</U></U></A></div> <div> This site gives the history of Jim Crow laws. It also contains links to reviews, political commentary, etc.</div> <div> <I>Other Background Information:</I></div> <div> General Information (Miller County, Arkansas):</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.texardana-usa.com/" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.texardana-usa.com/"><U><U>http://www.texardana-usa.com/</U></U></A></div> <div> Map of San Francisco, CA:</div> <bR> <div> <A HREF="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=san+fransisco&state=ca&zipcode=&hom" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?cou"><U><U>http://www.mapquest.com/maps/map.adp?country=US&address=&city=san+fransisco&state=ca&zipcode=&hom</U></U></A></div> <bR> <div> Map Of St. Louis, MO</div> <div> <A HREF="http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&&csz=St+Louis+MO+&Get%A0Map=Get+Map" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tma"><U><U>http://maps.yahoo.com/py/maps.py?Pyt=Tmap&&csz=St+Louis+MO+&Get%A0Map=Get+Map</U></U></A></div> <div> Photo essay on the Great Depression:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/faho"><U><U>http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/fsahtml/fahome.html</U></U></A></div> <div> This collage on the title page of this site contains a photo of African American cotton pickers in Pulaski County, AR. There is a wealth of other photos that could help students visualize conditions that surrounded AngelouÕs adolescence. You can use the Geographic Location Index to find states alphabetically. </div> <div> History lesson: The Crash and the Great Depression:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture18.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectu"><U><U>http://us.history.wisc.edu/hist102/lectures/lecture18.html</U></U></A></div> <div> A simple outline of events and terms related to the Depression; from a history lesson series.</div> <div> Teaching Links: Unit Plans</div> <div> Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute:</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1996/1/96.01.01xhtml" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/uni"><U><U>http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1996/1/96.01.01xhtml</U></U></A></div> <div> How could race relations be taught in the classroom? This is a Yale educational site with a history of Jim Crow laws; it features a very interesting unit plan for mock segregation. </div> <div> Elementary grades</div> <div> Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1991/3/91.03.03.x.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/uni"><U>http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1991/3/91.03.03.x.html</U></A></div> <div> This is a unit plan on African American women ranging from Zora Neal Hurst to Harriet Jacobs to Maya Angelou. </div> <div> Grade 9</div> <div> Yale-New Haven Teachers Institute</div> <div> <A HREF="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1985/3/85.03.03.x.html" TARGET="_top" TITLE="http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/uni"><U>http://www.yale.edu/ynhti/curriculum/units/1985/3/85.03.03.x.html</U></A></div> <div> This site uses <I>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</I> as a template for creating student autobiographies.</div> <div> grades 10-12</div> <div> Why teach <I>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings?</I></div> <div> <I>I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings</I> is that rare book that combines the true-life personal account, startlingly fresh honesty and a wry sense of humor with a historical depiction of American life. It is written for at least an 8<FONT SIZE="1" COLOR="#000000" FACE="Arial" >th</FONT> grade reading level, but it is a book that can be read again and again by many ages. In each reading the reader will take something away from it s/he had not before. Colorful and figurative language abounds in this book. Teachers can easily make mini lessons out of AngelouÕs style, while drawing on her observations about linguistic code-switching to enhance student understanding of the multiple roles of language in our society. As well, her discussion of mature themes, relayed by sophisticated skills, comes through the eyes of the na•ve in a way that may bring relief to both the curious youth and the all-too-familiar adult.</div> <div> Angelou is careful to weigh each joy with a reciprocal sadness. Her wit allows her to make the reader laugh aloud in one chapter only to well up with sympathy in the next. Her tales of church-going and revivals are accented by her style of telling each truth with a delicious sense of detail:</div> <div> <I>ÒDeacon JacksonÉgave a scream like a falling tree, leaned back on thin air and punched Reverend Taylor in the arm. It must have hurt as much as it caught the Reverend unawares. There was a momentÕs break in the rolling sounds and Reverend Taylor jerked around surprised, and hauled off and punched Deacon Jackson. In the same second Sister Willson caught his tie, looped it over her fist a few times, and pressed down on him. There wasnÕt time to laugh or cry before all three of them were down on the floor behind the altar. Their legs spiked out like kindling wood.Ó</I></div> <div> This is paired with such stirring accounts as the Layfayette County Training School graduation. The guest speaker, apparently on his way to something much more important, clearly defines the expectations the white folk have for its graduates: </div> <div> ÒDonleavy had exposed us. We were maids and farmers, handymen and washerwomen, and anything higher that we aspired to was farcical and presumptuous.Ó</div> <div> Immediately after this declaration, the author illustrates how ÒLift EvÕry Voice and SingÓ acquired meaning for her after she had felt so debased. It is this powerful balance that gives the reader a lesson in humanity for every smile paid.</div> <div> Code-switching in language (knowing when to move from standard English to vernaculars and vice-versa) can be a very important tool for helping students understand the necessity of learning standard English. While standard English may not be the standard of the street, its use is often appropriate (especially in formal situations) and sometimes a hindrance to communication (in very informal settings with unfamiliar, less educated people, for example). Right from the beginning of the book, Angelou is aware that the formality of her speaking sets her apart from her community:</div> <div> ÒWouldnÕt they be surprised when one day I woke out of my black ugly dream, and my real hair, which was long and blond, would take the place of the kinky mass that Momma wouldnÕt let me straightenÉThen they would understand why I had never picked up a Southern accent, or spoke the common slang, and why I had to be forced to eat pigsÕ tails and snouts. Because I was really whiteÉÓ</div> <div> Later, when her father takes her to Mexico and then disappears, she realizes that her father is able to code switch in the new setting effectively, but she is not. Her father Ò<I>stopped his affected way of talking (it would have been difficult to wedge </I>ers<I> into that rapid Spanish).</I> When she wants to know where her father has gone to, she asks in formal Spanish and her only answer is given as Òa howl of laughter.Ó Because she is not taken seriously, she feels isolated and abandoned.</div> <div> Mature themes can be difficult to handle in writing for adolescent and adult audiences simultaneously. Once again, her frankness and naivetŽ are fundamental to her great accomplishments. When detailing the metamorphosis of her neighborhood in San Francisco in the outset of World War II, she observes carefully that the Japanese shops and culture have given way to African American ways:</div> <div> ÒA person unaware of all the factors that make up oppression might have expected sympathy or even support from the Negro newcomers for the dislodged Japanese. Especially In view of the fact the they (the Blacks) had themselves undergone concentration-camp living for centuries in slaveryÕs plantations and later in sharecroppers cabins. But the sensations of common relationship were missing.Ó</div> <div> Most importantly, her handling of rape and other issues of sexuality can be described as sensitive and honest. From rape victimÕs guilt to her confusion about her budding sexuality, the author gracefully faces issues that cannot be ignored by the modern secondary school teacher. As well, her style allows the reader to be just close enough to feel the authorÕs struggle without taking on the shame and confusion personally.</div> <div> This is a very rich text for addressing real life issues such as multicultural understanding, gender, power, and coming-of-age. With a careful balance of entertainment and sober countenance, the author takes us on an amazing journey that demands to be read with a hunger. Its wealth can scarcely be plundered in the classroom!</div> <bR> </td> </tr></table></body>