IDENTITY

Identity… Take a moment and really think about the word identity. Dictionary.com defines identity as “the condition of being oneself or itself, and not another.” But what does that mean? What is oneself? Is it the soul? But then what is the soul? Is it our morals? Beliefs? Preferences? If it’s not internally based, is it instead a combination of external factors? Race? Eye Color? Hair Color? Height? Weight?

Describe this person’s identity…

What about this person?

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One More…

Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou Maya Angelou, originally known as Marguerite Ann Johnson, was an 82 year old African American woman. She was born on April 4th 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. At a young age she was raped. She was mute for five years. Read a lot of books. She struggled against the odds of being black and a woman at a time when prejudice was at its height.

Maya Angelou She dropped out of high school and became the first African American female cable car conductor. Went back to high school to graduate. Gave birth to her son Guy when she was seventeen. Worked as a waitress and cook. When her grandmother died grief hit her hard and inspired her with manifest. Won a scholarship to study drama and dance. In 1957 she recorded her first album Calypso Lady.

Maya Angelou She traveled around Africa writing, editing and teaching as a result, she became fluent in French, Italian, Spanish, Arabic and Fanti, a West African language. In 1993 she wrote and recited a poem at the presidential inaugural ceremony for Bill Clinton—a performance for which she won a Grammy for Best Non-Musical Album. She is a Tony-nominated actress. Today she has written over 20 books.

Maya Angelou as an actress.

1993 presidential inaugural ceremony for Bill Clinton On the Pulse of Morning.

We Had Him Poem for Michael Jackson Beloveds, now we know that we know nothing Now that our bright and shining star can slip away from our fingertips like a puff of summer wind Without notice, our dear love can escape our doting embrace Sing our songs among the stars and and walk our dances across the face of the moon In the instant we learn that Michael is gone we know nothing No clocks can tell our time and no oceans can rush our tides With the abrupt absence of our treasure Though we our many, each of us is achingly alone Piercingly alone Only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him He came to us from the Creator, trailing creativity in abundance Despite the anguish of life he was sheathed in mother love and family love and survived and did not more than that He thrived with passion and compassion, humor and style We had him Whether we knew who he was or did not know, he was our's and we were his We had him Beautiful, delighting our eyes He raked his hat slant over his brow and took a pose on his toes for all of us and we laughed and stomped our feet for him We were enchanted with his passion because he held nothing He gave us all he had been given Today in Tokyo, beneath the Eiffel Tower, in Ghana's Blackstar Square, in Johannesburg, in Pittsburgh, in Birmingham, Alabama and Birmingham England, we are missing Michael Jackson But we do know that we had him And we are the world.

Touched by an Angel Maya Angelou We, unaccustomed to courage exiles from delight live coiled in shells of loneliness until love leaves its high holy temple and comes into our sight to liberate us into life. Love arrives and in its train come ecstasies old memories of pleasure ancient histories of pain. Yet if we are bold, love strikes away the chains of fear from our souls. We are weaned from our timidity In the flush of love's light we dare be brave And suddenly we see that love costs all we are and will ever be. Yet it is only love which sets us free

Still I Rise 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. Does my sassiness upset you? Why are you beset with gloom? 'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells Pumping in my living room. Just like moons and like suns, With the certainty of tides, Just like hopes springing high, Still I'll rise. Did you want to see me broken? Bowed head and lowered eyes? Shoulders falling down like teardrops. Weakened by my soulful cries. Does my haughtiness offend you? Don't you take it awful hard 'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines Diggin' in my own back yard. You may shoot me with your words, You may cut me with your eyes, You may kill me with your hatefulness, But still, like air, I'll rise. Does my sexiness upset you? Does it come as a surprise That I dance like I've got diamonds At the meeting of my thighs? I rise.

Out of the huts of history's shame I rise Up from a past that's rooted in pain I rise I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide, Welling and swelling I bear in the tide. Leaving behind nights of terror and fear I rise Into a daybreak that's miraculously clear I rise Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the hope and the dream of the slave. I rise I rise I rise. Angelou Reading

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings A free bird leaps on the back Of the wind and floats downstream Till the current ends and dips his wing In the orange suns rays And dares to claim the sky. But a BIRD that stalks down his narrow cage Can seldom see through his bars of rage His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with a fearful trill Of things unknown but longed for still And his tune is heard on the distant hill for The caged bird sings of freedom. The free bird thinks of another breeze And the trade winds soft through The sighing trees And the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright Lawn and he names the sky his own. But a caged BIRD stands on the grave of dreams His shadow shouts on a nightmare scream His wings are clipped and his feet are tied So he opens his throat to sing. The caged bird sings with A fearful trill of things unknown But longed for still and his Tune is heard on the distant hill For the caged bird sings of freedom

Discussion Questions What do you think that the birds represent in the author's eyes? What do you think the theme of this poem is? Why do you think the author used birds as symbols in this poem ?

Analysis In this poem Angelou emphasizes how black people struggled against the odds of being black at a time when prejudice was at its height. This whole poem is a metaphor about the separation between the colors of people’s skin in everyday life comparing it to a caged bird. In the authors eyes I think the caged bird represents the coloured person and the free bird represents a white person. I interpreted the caged bird as the black race being held back from freedom because of their skin color.

Analysis Leaped, Floats, Dares and Claim are words used in the first stanza to describe the free bird. Stalked, Clipped and Tied are used in the second stanza with a negative mood to describe the caged bird. Irony is used at the end of 2nd stanza when the bird sings. Birds are known to sing when they are happy. Rhyming is used throughout the poem for neatness. Ex. Trill, Still, Hill. Stanzas beginning with The caged bird, or The free bird, gives us a feeling of how desperate the bird is to be free.

Bibliography http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Maya-Angelou/4 http://famouspoetsandpoems.com/poets/maya_angelou http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wK5WsmoQPZE http://mayaangelou.com/ http://www.wm.edu/blogs/studentblogs/adreanne/images/maya-angelou.jpg http://lboissiere.files.wordpress.com/2009/05/mayaangeloucandid_bw.jpg http://www.artifice.com/images/sky_with_clouds.jpg