Maya Angelou
... Maya Angelou has commented that "All my work is meant to say You may encounter many defeats, but you must not be defeated." This theme is expressed throughout the entire book of Maya Angelou. ... Maya Angelou came from a dysfunctional family, her mother Vivian Baxter, and her father Bailey Senior, and divorced when Maya was three years old. Maya and Bailey Junior were sent away to Stamps, Arkansas an all African American cotton picking community, to live with their grandmother Henderson and uncle Willie. Here Maya Angelou witnesses the hardships, and the struggles of her people. Throughout the book we see Maya Angelou overcome some of her struggles and see her become a mature responsible young woman. Maya Angelou saw how the Black cotton pickers did not even make enough money to pay any debts that had with their grandmother Henderson. Maya saw their wounds and scars made by the sharp cotton calls; and she knew that they would end the season as they started it – without money or credit to sustain a family for three months. ... Uncle Willie along with Maya learned the times tables, although not really understanding its principles. The KKK was very active during the time Maya Angulou was young, and living in Stamps, Arkansas with her grandmother, and the racial tensions between whites and blacks was very high. ... "Late one day," Maya Angelou writes, the towns sheriff came to warn Uncle Willie that the KKK was out trying to seek revenge, because a black man allegedly raped a white lady. ... Maya Angelou, and Bailey Junior were taught to keep clean, and to always be respectful to their elders. "Powhitetrash children," in the other hand, were disrespectful white children, who came into the store and gave orders to Uncle Willie and Grandmother Henderson; these children called black elders by their first name, Maya was enraged by the "Powhitetrash children," who ordered her uncle and grandmother, and they obeyed them. An unforgetful event that will always remain engraved in the memory of Maya Angelou is an incident Grandmother Henderson had with some "Powhitetrash" girls. It was a summer morning, Maya and her grandmother were out contemplating the front yard, when they saw a troop of "Powhitetrash" girls come their direction.