Interview with a Spirit: Maya Angelou

Me: Hi Maya Angelou, it’s an honor that I get to meet and speak to you today. I’ve always been a

fan of your writing and since I have the chance to speak with you, I thought we could discuss

interesting aspects of your life, writing career, and if you have time I’d love to speak to you

about one of my favorite poems?

Maya: Oh, that wouldn’t be a problem. Tell me, which is your favorite?

Me: Still I Rise.

Maya: Oh, a good choice. A strong one.

Me: Really?

Maya: (nods) Yes. Still I Rise is about surviving, but not being defeated. There have been many

experiences in my life where I encountered defeats, but encountering them were the very

experiences which created the vitality and the power to persist.

Me: Wow... I never thought of the poem that way before. Can I ask you more about your life and

the experiences that led you to that point?

Maya: Absolutely. Where would you like to start?

Me: Your childhood. You were born as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928 and

grew up during the Great Depression and the Jim Crow era. The impact of these historical events

is evident in your work, but is there anything else from your childhood that had a major effect on

your writing?
Maya: There’s an extraordinary deal from my childhood that is obvious in my works. My

grandmother owned a small store in which she sold goods. Often there were cotton pickers that

came in to buy their lunches for the day, tucking items into handkerchiefs in their back pockets. I

lived with her in Arkansas after my parents separated. However, horrible things can happen, and

for me that was my grandmother’s boyfriend. When I was seven, he raped me.

Me: That’s horrible. No one should go through something that young. I am sorry that happened

to you.

Maya: It was traumatizing. More so when I told my family what happened, he was tried and

convicted, only to turn up dead a few days later.

Me: (shocked) Woah.

Maya: I thought my voice had killed the man. And I thought if I spoke, my voice might just go

out and kill anybody, randomly, and I stopped speaking for six years. So I learned to read and I

read every book I could find. And I memorized.

Me: Did ‘losing’ your voice like that help develop and shape your current writing style?

Maya: Definitely. That was a difficult point in my life, but once I started speaking again, words

became a point of liberation. I found freedom and empowerment in them, but it took me many

years before I started using them as a writer.

Me: When did you start your writing career?

Maya: I’ve been writing poems since a young age, but officially I’d say the late 1950’s, early

1960’s. I worked as a freelance writer while I was abroad in Ghana.

Me: That’s right. Isn’t that when you became close with human rights activist Malcom X and

helped him set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity?

Maya: Yes I did, although it disbanded a year after his assassination.

Me: I didn’t know that. I am sorry for your loss.

Maya: Thank you.

Me: Since we are on the topic of social activism, you have played an active role in the Civil

Rights Movement as a civil rights activist for many years. In your writing career, you have

explored freedom, empowerment and other similar themes. Is it fair to assume that Still I Rise is

a reflection of that?

Maya: As I alluded to earlier, Still I Rise is about encountering defeats but you must not be

defeated. The poem begins with: “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.” That line itself is

empowerment. For Black America, many of us have remained intact enough to survive, and to

do better than that — to thrive. And to do better than that — to thrive with some passion, some

compassion, some humor and some style. My great-grandmother was born a slave, and she

wouldn't have survived slavery without hoping it would get better. The last line of Still I Rise

says it best:"I am the dream and the hope of the slave; I rise; I rise; I rise."

Me: Hope is beautiful that way. It inspires even the best of us to keep going, even when it seems

impossible too.

Maya: It does. That’s why this piece is such a popular piece of mine. And a number of people

use it. A lot of Black of people and a lot of white people use it. Even decades after I published it,
many continue to reference it. Nelson Mandela recited it when he was inaugurated as president in

South Africa in 1994.

Me: Really? I didn’t know that.

Maya: Yes. Many others have referenced it because of the impact it’s had on others.

Me: I can see that. It’s impacted me personally as well. In an article titled ‘Maya Angelou's 'Still

I Rise' Holds a Powerful Lesson for Today's America,’ Zak Cheney-Rice claims that your

experiences of violence and abuse are deeply entrenched in the narrative of black America,

especially black womanhood. Do you think this applies to ‘Still I Rise?’

Maya: Growing up in Black America was hard, especially in a social environment where one

environment doesn’t accept the other. It is even harder as a woman. Still I Rise, though, speaks

more directly about the issues we Black Americans face as a whole. His claims are correct, but

it’s important to emphasize both our own individual strength and the strengths of others so we

can rise above the efforts to oppress and dehumanize those that see us as less than.

Me: It’s essential to recognize your own strengths and the strengths of your group identity. If you

think of it that way, it almost makes ‘Still I Rise’ feel like a rallying call.

Maya: (chuckles) if you put it that way, yes... Oh, that sounds so pompous- Gah!

Me: (laughs) It does, but it’s inspiring! You don’t need to make a weird face about it, why do you

think it’s so pompous?

Maya: Oh, I don’t know... I just feel like I should be someone who sits back and says “Oh, it’s

just a poem” and let someone else say otherwise, but no, I’m always putting myself forward and

explaining my work.
Me: I think it’s great that you are doing this. It is inspiring to get an insider source on the matter.

It was great speaking to you and learning so much about you, your life and your writing career. I

enjoyed learning about the aspects that inspired my all-time favorite of yours, ‘Still I Rise.’

Thank you for going over all of this with me.

Maya: It was my pleasure.

 Works Cited

Maya Angelou. (2021). Retrieved 7 May 2021, from

https://www.biography.com/writer/maya-angelou

Maya Angelou's 'Still I Rise' Holds a Powerful Lesson for Today's America. (2014). Retrieved 7

May 2021, from

https://www.mic.com/articles/90129/maya-angelou-s-still-i-rise-holds-a-powerful-lesson-

for-today-s-america

Maya Angelou: The Meaning Behind Her Poem "Still I Rise". (2021). Retrieved 7 May 2021,

from https://www.biography.com/news/maya-angelou-still-i-rise

The Monday Poem: 'Still I Rise' by Maya Angelou - The Buzz. (2017). Retrieved 7 May 2021,

from https://news.sunybroome.edu/buzz/the-monday-poem-still-i-rise-by-maya-angelou/