Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are African - American writers,who have experienced racial
prejudice in their societies. Alice was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Maya was born on
April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Due to serious health condition, Maya Angelou passed
away on May 28, 2014 in Winston - Salem, North Carolina, Alice Walker is alive and well living
in Georgia with her family. Both writers can be compared by looking at their achievements and
their life as they were growing up. Alice Walker is a world-famous writer and activist, she is best known for her work in
the Civil Rights and Feminism movement. She published her first short story, which
was collected in the 1967 anthology, The Best Short Stories
…show more content…
In the title, the gardens became metaphor to a black women’s
artistry and self-expression. In an echo of the nonviolence of Martin Luther King Jr.
and the American Civil Rights Movement, Alice Walker joined the the nonviolent group
called BDS (Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions) she protested in hopes of inspiring changes in
Maynes 2
Israel. Alice Walker published more than thirty books, including poetry, essays, memoirs
and criticism.
Maya Angelou is well recognized for her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the
memoir made history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman.
In 1971, Maya published the Pulitzer Prize nominated poetry collection, Just Give Me a
Cool Drink of Water ‘Fore I Die. The poem On the Pulse of Morning is one of her famous
works, she recited the poem at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. Maya
Angelou received several honors throughout her career, which include two NAACP and
Image Award for her striking nonfiction work, in 2005 and 2009. Maya became an
important part of the civil rights movement, after hearing Martin Luther King Jr. speech,
she decided to help the Southern Christian Leadership Conference to raise funds.
Maya Angelou was inspired to read by several amazing authors and an educated Black woman. “She read books by Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Bois, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar”. .”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya said, “Even though she and Bailey were discouraged from reading the works of white writers at home, Angelou read and fell in love with the works of William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens, and Edgar Allan Poe.”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Mrs. Flower’s was someone who also once played a wonderful role in her life. She was the person whom was able to get Maya to speak again when she was young. Mrs. Flowers was a charming gentlewoman who was an aristocrat in the small town of Black Stamps. She would give Maya books to take home, and she would tell her to read the books aloud. “She explained the importance of education, importance of the spoken word, and instilled in her a love of poetry. ”(Poetry Foundation, 2008). Maya became so interested in writing that she moved to New York and joined the Harlem Writers Guide in the late 50’s and began her writing career.
Alice Paul had a very interesting and eventful life. She was born on January 11, 1885, in Mt. Laurel, New Jersey. She grew up with a Quaker background and attended Swarthmore college. At the time women picked latin or english as their topic of study, but Alice had already mastered that so she picked biology. She was in a class with mostly men so from a young age she felt different. In 1906 through 1909, Alice was in london and she became politically active and was not afraid to use noticeable strategies in support of a cause. Furthermore, she joined the Women's Suffrage movement in Britain and on many occasions she was arrested. While Alice Paul and her supporters fought for Women’s rights, and the people that were against women’s rights
Maya was born on April 4,1928, in St. Louis, Mo and she was raised there as well.
Dr. Angelou served in the presidential committees having been awarded the Presidential medal of arts in 2000 as well as the Lincoln medal in 2008 and has received 3 Grammy awards. Dr. Angelou read her poem of on the pulse of the morning which was broadcasted around the world. Dr. Angelou’s honorary skills have leaded her to earn more than 50 honorary degrees. After the devastating occurrence of Martin Luther King Jr’s death Dr. Angelou did not celebrate her birthday afterwards but sent flowers to King’s widow named Coretta Scott King for more than 30 years until Coretta died in 2006. Maya Angelou is the first black woman to write and produce several prize-winning documentaries such as Afro-American in the arts which was a PBS special later receiving a Golden
Alice Walker and Maya Angelou are two contemporary African-American writers. Although almost a generation apart in age, both women display a remarkable similarity in their lives. Each has written about her experiences growing up in the rural South, Ms. Walker through her essays and Ms. Angelou in her autobiographies. Though they share similar backgrounds, each has a unique style that gives the readers, the gift of their exquisite humanity, with all of its frailties and strengths, joys and sorrows.
Maya Angelou was born on April 28, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri to Bailey and Vivian Johnson. Her given name was Marguerite Ann Johnson, but she was nicknamed “Maya” by her older brother. Over the course of her life, Angelou had many jobs ranging from a fry cook to a sex worker. She broke through as both an author and poet with her publication of her autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969. (Wikipedia.com) From that point on, Maya Angelou would become a very prominent figure in American literature.
The life and works of Margaret Walker was themed with messages of hope serving as a pillar of support for the African-American race. The trials and tribulation of the African-Americans as they adapt their new found freedom was one filled with great struggle.
This includes her date of birth, her family and life’s chronology among others. These are all give in point form. The article then goes on to analyze the themes and issues that Alice walker always had in her works. Most of these issues and themes are related to the historical and problems brought about by modern races in America. The author of this article also does not only include what she thinks the is the best way possible only but also includes the opinions of others on the subject.
Maya Angelou chose to exercise her own quote, “There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you,” through her various autobiographies and poems. She did this so that readers may discover her extraordinary past and possibly even learn from it. Formerly known as Marguerite Johnson, Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri and was raised in Stamps, Arkansas. She is an African American female author, poet, playwright, and actress and is mostly associated with her most popular autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. One of her writings, The Heart of a Woman is the fourth of six autobiographies that was published in 1981 and it narrates her life from 1957-1962.
Black historians are a very controversial topic. Among many black historians, Alice Walker is one that caught my attention. Alice Walker was born on February 9, 1944 in Eatonton, Georgia. Like others, she was born into a poor sharecropper family, and the last of eight children. Alice Walker is an African American novelist who articulates self-esteem, molestation and lesbianism in African American women in her novels. AW always turned to writing when she was depressed. During that time she got the greatest inspiration to her stories.
was how Alice Walker grew up. She has written stories about her life, and stories that have had
Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014) was an American author, actress, screenwriter dancer and poet. She was known for her memoir, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings (bibography.com). “Her parents divorced when she was only three and she was sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, the young girl experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American
Alice Walker was born on February ninth, 1944 in Eaton, Georgia. As a child, Walker was shot in the eye with a pellet gun leaving her partially blind. Being African
Alice Walker, born February ninth of 1944, was a child of tenant farmers in Eatonton, Georgia. As she lost sight in one eye from being shot with a BB gun, she read and wrote surrounding herself with her mother and aunts. As she witnessed the independence of these women, along with the oppression of the sharecropping system and violent racist acts, her artistic view was shaped. In 1961, she got involved with the Civil Right Movement at Spelman College, and became active after moving to Mississippi. Together with her husband, Civil Rights Lawyer Melvyn Rosenman Leventhal, married in March of 1967, she worked registering blacks to vote in Mississippi. They divorced after her daughter, Rebecca, was born.
Maya Angelou and Alice Walker are two well-known contemporary African- American writers. Although both women are from different generations they share some of the same qualities and experiences. Both women used their past experiences of tragedy and hardship as a stepping stool for growth by turning that pain into what now are famous stories and poems. For most writers, majority of their work stem from their own experiences, and for both Alice and Maya a great deal of their works regarded the dilemmas many African American people faced during that time such as prejudice and discrimination.