You can run but you cant hidethe relationship between maya angleou and joe louis
...ass history and break the barriers. During his championship round with Primo Carnera in June of 1935, the whole nation was listening along with the 62 000 members of the Yankee Stadium audience. “...I wondered if the announcer gave any thought to the fact that he was addressing as “ladies and gentlemen” all the Negros in the world who sat sweating and praying, glued to their “master’s voice”.” What may have been an unimportant fight to Whites was the breaking point for Blacks around the world. If he lost, things would go on as they usually did, with abuse, anger, and oppression, but if he came out victorious, things would change. A black man would be champion of the world, undefeated, undeterred and unbeatable. Listening to the radio, waiting, wondering, hoping, praying, was the whole town of Stamps, Arkansas. Meanwhile, Maya Angelou and her family tending to the need for sodas and snacks for the awaiting audience. As the fight began, all of the attention turned to the fight, the apparent outcome for the Black race, the future of their children, and their children’s children. As the punches were thrown, the fight for equality was taking place. Louis representing Blacks and their past, and Carnera representing more years of struggle and pain. When the announcer said “...and it looks like Louis is going down.” it blew over the Black community, striking everybody in it’s path. “It” being the possibility of more pain, more unnecessary death, more discrimination. But he rose up, and took the years of downtroddening and disrespect and packed it into a few punches to show the White race they could not silence the Blacks. No matter what happened, Joe overcame the situation and came out on top symbolizing the Black’s struggle to be heard and recognized. That one fight combined all the Blacks into one person, one fighter, one chance to gain pride and happiness. As he fought, the Blacks fought, and every punch he received, the people felt. So, yes, Maya was correct in saying that her race groaned, it groaned, it whimpered, and got back up to fight another day. The young boy who was raised in the Deep South in poverty and pain like the majority of his fans, had grown up into a man who represented and won over the Blacks. In the book “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”, Maya Angelou chose her words carefully to communicate a feeling of tension and overbearing pressure. She made sure to keep the surrounding atmosphere of the store quiet and very subdued, focusing all of the reader’s attention on the description of the fight. The mood of the chapter quickly changes when Maya begins to describe what would happen if Joe lost the fight. “...another lynching, yet another Black man hanging on ...