Maya Angelou
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Monument Proposal By Natalie Hood
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Biography Marguerite Annie Johnson Angelou or more commonly known as Maya Angelou, was a women of many talents and careers. Born April of 1928 in St Louis, Missouri. She had her share of troubles in her childhood that traumatized her to the point of not speaking. She became a mute, this lasted for five years. In her later life she moved to San Francisco where she received a scholarship to study dancing and acting at California Labor School. While there she became the first Black cable car conductor in San Francisco. Maya is known for her many different careers she has had in her life time, especially her jobs as an activist and poet.
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Her work with activism Maya Angelou had many careers in her life time, one of the big careers aside from being a writer was being a civil rights activist. She worked with many influential activists such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She worked closely with the both of them and held them close to her heart. On her birthday Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated, this led her to stop celebrating her birthday. The deaths of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. inspired her to write and produce, and narrate a documentary titled “Blacks, Blues, Black!”. Then the following year she wrote her autobiography “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”.
4 Maya along side with Martin Luther King Jr.
Maya Angelou with Malcolm X. She worked closely with Malcolm X to develop the Organization of Afro-American Unity before his assassination.
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"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
“The caged bird sings with fearful trill of the things unknown but longed for still and his tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom.”
“I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is an autobiography of Maya Angelou's life and all her experiences. She uses a caged bird as a metaphor for her being unable to escape the confinement that she has experienced from oppression and racism as well as past traumas. She shows through metaphors the racism that is faced on a daily basis, oppressed and unable to free themselves from that.
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Monument Idea 1 The first possibility of a monument for Maya Angelou would be a large stone birdcage with the cage door open and a lone feather at the bottom of the cage. This is a simple approach to represent one of her most famous writings “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” which is an autobiography of her life. This book goes through a number of issues she has faced in her life such as violence, racism, sexual assault, sexuality and teen pregnancy. This book was insanely famous and brought light to what she had to go through. The cage symbolizes where she has once felt trapped. With the gate being open with nothing but a feather left shows how she left her painful past behind her and she has freed herself.
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Monument Idea 2 The second monument idea is Maya Angelou sitting with the bird cage at her feet. The cage will be open as well and she will have a feather on her shoulder. Having her seated will allow for an interactive feature with nature, where birds can land and sit with her. This is her freedom, she flew as free as the birds that land on her. This would be a larger statue, and will have a more obvious meaning than just the birdcage alone, but both have a deep meaning to them.
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Location 1
If this monument were to be put on the George Mason campus, i would put it by Mason pond on the Fairfax campus. This statue would be near the bird feeder area. This would be an interactive area for the statue so birds could land on it. It wouldn't be too big of a statue but being able to have it in this location with the bird gives the monument a purpose.
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Location 2
Another location outside of George mason that would be good for this monument would be in Stamp, Arkansas. The location chosen is the Arkansas state park. Arkansas is where she moved in with her grandmother. It is where she began her interest in poetry and writing, Shakespeare and Poe struck her interest in poetry. It could possibly be in local park from where she is from.
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Citations Dr. Kelly A. Spring | 2017. (n.d.). Maya Angelou. Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https:// www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maya-angelou Lewis, F. (n.d.). Biography of Maya Angelou, writer and civil rights activist. Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https://www.thoughtco.com/maya-angelou-writer-and-civil-rights-activist-45285#:~:text=When%20 she%20returned%20to%20the,he%2C%20 too%2C%20was%20assassinated. Maya Angelou. (2021, February 03). Retrieved April 08, 2021, from https://www.biography. com/writer/maya-angelou