He was one of those persons, certainly, but my sister, my grandmother and uncle who raised me, who taught me, by their actions, that it was good to be good, that it was nice to be nice, influenced me more than any other persons have since that time.
Managed profile
Not claimed by Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou has not joined FLAPSS and has not endorsed it. This page is a reference record assembled from published interviews and public remarks. Every answer below is a direct quotation with the source and date shown next to it.
MA
Maya Angelou
Poet, memoirist and civil rights activist
United States · 1928–2014
Arts and letters
About
American memoirist, poet and civil rights activist, author of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, who read On the Pulse of Morning at the 1993 presidential inauguration.
3 answers
Try to retain some of the finest parts of the African American culture, some of the sweetest parts. The fact that people kind of drop their voices and become almost musical when they talk to a friend, or to a preacher, or to a teacher. They say, “Hey! How you doin’?” Remember that. Keep the melody in your mind and in your spirit. It will keep you tender in the tough times, which is very important.
Recorded
Academy of Achievement, Academy of Achievement interview, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, 1 April 2000
source ↗
The music of the “I Have a Dream” speech is a replication of the music which comes out of the mouths of the African American preacher. Preacher, singer, blues singer, jazz singer, rap person, it is so catching, so hypnotic, so wonderful that, as a poet, I continue to try to catch it, to catch the music.
Every quotation above is reproduced from the source shown beside it and has not been edited. Maya Angelou did not write these answers for FLAPSS. Request a correction or removal.