Maya Angelou is one of the most renowned and influential voices in the recent time. She is a celebrated poet, novelist, actor and filmmaker. In her early life, she experienced the brutality of racial discrimination based on the situation at the time (Goodman 21). Her experiences in life had an influence in her work as she touched on the issues of racism and sexism over the years. Her poems, in particular, have prioritized on the themes of racism and sexism to reveal some of the issues that affect the society today. This paper looks at the manifestation of the theme of racism in Maya Angelou's poems.It emerges from her poems that despite being her being a good writer, she was discriminated against and was not given the credit she deserves all because she was black. In her poem, 'Still I Rise', she declares:
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.
This indicates that she did not get bothered by the challenges that she was facing but she focused on how she would be able to rise again. She says that she would rise even if the whole country or world were against her. Angelou uses the theme of racism in all her autobiographies especially in the analysis of her land. By writing her autobiographies, she attempts to fight the racial discriminations of the all the women in America (Arsenault and Freedman 15). As stated earlier, the themes of the poems revolve around the injustices found in the country and how it can be fought. Many of the experiences are a reflection of her young life. For example, she was forced to be in prison because of the racial problems (Goodman 21). In prison, her voice was limited and she could not continue fighting for the rights of the people. in the poem, 'Alone', she says:
Storm clouds are gathering
The wind is gonna blow
The race of man is suffering
And I can hear the moan,
. . . But nobody can make it out here alone (Alone, PH)
In the quote, she moans and cries for the pain and suffering that was faced by the black community at the hands of discrimination. During her time, America was faced with segregation of races, which made it hard for blacks to not only access education but also own property. Any attempt to fight for the freedom of the race was met with police brutality and being jailed in the process.
Angelou's use of words was unique and portrayed a person who was ready to make sure the American woman had her liberation and the blacks were given their freedom from discrimination. She dedicated her life to fighting the identity crisis and the racial discrimination that were the order of the day in her land (Arsenault and Freedman, 15). For example in the poem 'Still I Rise', she says:
You may shoot me with your words,
You may...
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