REDEMPTION, LRT. 78
Maya Angelou

A person who can read but chooses not to do so is no better off than the person who can. As I would like to tribute this piece to Maya Angelou who has done many great things in her life that should be the motivation & inspiration to all women growing up in this crazy world.

Maya Angelou was born in "the show me state" April 1928 an' recently passed away June 2014. Before this very sad day, Maya Angelou was sent to Stamps, Arkansas to be raised by her loving & caring grandmother when she was only 7 years old. She was raped by her mother's boyfriend as the trauma of this experience rendered Maya Angelou mute for 5 years. An' it was during this period that she began to read extensively before she gave birth at age 16 to her only child Guy Johnson. This very courageous & phenomenal woman had to take care of herself & her son as she took on a variety of jobs, working as: a cook, a waitress, and a madam to several prostitutes.

Nobody can say she wasn't an influential person to admire, becoming a professional dance an' making a tour to Europe & Afrika to do the Porky & Bess Show before she came back to AmeriKKKa & found by James Baldwin at Random House to publish her life story in, "I Know Why Caged Bird Sings," becoming her best seller and publishing other books of poetry & essays that helped her gain fame to read "On the Pulse of Morning", a poem she read at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration, as she done inspired a lot of women. Just ask Oprah Winfrey.

Throughout Maya Angelou's life, she has made a way to have a distinguished career in film & television by often breaking new ground on things to do. An' her willingness to talk about her life experiences has earned her widespread love, admiration, & respect that many women can be inspired; to be involved in our black struggle to educate the people about the truth; as she spent several years in Ghana, West Afrika to be the editor of "The Afrikan Review" in her determination to fully devote herself to our kause. As she is not the first & won't be the last.

I truly honor her endless fight to make what needs to be right with our conditions, not changing over here in the United States, as I suggest everybody read her books & poems. To understand how brilliant & magnificent she was, an' she truly will be missed.