Kayla Marie Cago BSEd 3A

Assessment ELE 220

Introduction

Equality is one of the most important topics that has been discussed for centuries. Right from
the beginning of time, there have always been ways to separate people based on gender, race or social
status. The poem that I am about to share is an urge of an author to be free from racism and
discrimination. For Angelou the different races are not supposed to give to the person a power to
discriminate the equal chance to live the life. She wanted or dreamed an understanding about
respecting the beauty of differences.

Description

Equality by Maya Angelou

You declare you see me dimly

through a glass which will not shine,
though I stand before you boldly,
trim in rank and marking time.
You do own to hear me faintly
as a whisper out of range,
while my drums beat out the message
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free.

You announce my ways are wanton,

that I fly from man to man,
but if I'm just a shadow to you,
could you ever understand ?

We have lived a painful history,

we know the shameful past,
but I keep on marching forward,
and you keep on coming last.

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free.

Take the blinders from your vision,

take the padding from your ears,
and confess you've heard me crying,
and admit you've seen my tears.
Hear the tempo so compelling,
hear the blood throb in my veins.
Yes, my drums are beating nightly,
and the rhythms never change.

Equality, and I will be free.

Equality, and I will be free.

Analysis/ Interpretation

Historicism Critique

The poem “Equality” emphasizes the urge of Maya Angelou to free from racism and wants
everyone to be equal. The poet refers to ‘I’ as herself representing the African-American race and ‘you’
representing the white people. When the poem says ‘Take the blinders from your vision, take the
padding from your ears, and confess you’ve heard me crying, and admit you’ve seen my tears’, it is
referring to the white people ‘blinding’ their vision and ‘padding’ their ears meaning that they are
ignoring and blocking out the African-Americans. This is used as a metaphor to represent the white
people being oblivious to the African-Americas and showing racism towards them. From the 1600s,
African Americans were treated as slaves who worked for white people. At that time, African Americans
were discriminated against by white people. They were even not treated even as humans; they were
treated as things or animals. Time keeps passing, but society's views remain the same. Black is evil. Black
is corrupted. Black is poison. White is right. Race shouldn't determine the way people are viewed. Yes, it
is a matter of race. Yes, it still matters, even now. Equality isn't here yet; therefore, we’re still stuck. The
poet keeps referring to ‘her drums’ as a sign that she is ‘beating out the message’ of equality for
everyone. This conveys the message of racism and that Negros are treated of lesser value compared to
white people and that they shadow on everyone because they are inferior. 

Conclusion

Maya Angelou's "Equality" is not meant to be a call to revolution. It is simply depicting the
message of waiting. We have been here. We have said the same things over and over again. We have
been wanting this one basic human right for years. Decades. Centuries. We have been protesting for our
rights, fighting the fight, writing our struggles into history. We have been here, and we will keep going.