Newspaper Page Text
November 6, 1981 Spelman Spotlight
Distinguished Poets Visit A.U. Center
Page 5
Maya Angelou Speaks at Spelman’s Sisters Chapel
by Angela Jackson
Reporter
Maya Angelou, author of the
noted I Know Why The Caged
Bird Sings, spoke at Sisters
Chapel, October 27, 1981.
Ms. Angelou has written
various other autobiographical
books including Gather
Together in My Name, Singin’
and Swingin’ and Getting Merry
Like Christmas andThe Heart of a
Woman. Her two books of
poetry are Just Give Me a Cool
Drink of Water ’Fore I Diiie and
Oh Pray My Wings are Gonna Fit
Me Well. She toured Europe in
the musical “Porgy and Bess,”
and starred in, produced, and
directed "Cabaret for Freedom."
“I am trying to be a poet,” said
Maya Angelou, “and trying to be
a poet is like trying to be a good
Christian ... it is not something
one accomplishes and achieves
in the day and sits back and says,
'well got that done.’You work all
day long to be that thing at its
best and then in the evening, you
check yourself out and say ‘well,
I only blew it 63 times. Not bad
today’ and you start all over the
next day.” She stated that her
goal is to "use poetry to show
you what I mean about the
survival of a people, of the
individual, and of the race and
then of a nation and of a
species.”
She signified literature as a
means of survival for the Negro
race. "Until you’ve come to grip
with the literature, like the
literature I am speaking of, you
have not tripped.” She asserted,
“You have not realized that here
is a literature so real that it will
not indulge the distance of
continents, oceans, cultures,
races and sexes. It will indulge no
distance."
According to Ms. Angelou, the
Negro writer says, "I picture the
Black experience that's what I
know. I am talking about the
human condition, what we can
survive and what we can over
come. That is what that literature
speaks of." She continued saying
that we will lose all that literature
has given us, "if we do not honor
it, if we do not relish it, if we do
not nurture it and subsequently
share it with our children then
we deserve the future which we
surely will encounter.”
Maya Angelou stated that
throughout the years, Blacks
have had to behave in the way
that society deemed they should.
"Our people were obliged to
laugh when we weren’t tickled
and to scratch when we didn't
itch. Those gestures have come
down to us as Uncle Tomming,”
Angelou stated. She continued,
“we do not often stop to
wonder, wonder how did that
throat clasping in that awful pain
when he said, ‘yes sir boss, you
right I sho is stupid,’ so he could
make enough money to feed
someone in this room.” We must
not forget the "Black woman
that said, ‘no ma’am, Miss Anne
you didn’t hurt me when you
slapped me, no ma’m I ain't
tender hearted; so she could
come home and feed me.” Ms.
Angelou said that those “playful
toys” were the Black man's way
of surviving.
Maya Angelou stated that it is
important for students to
become well rounded in
dividuals and better speakers. "It
is important that you know of
Arnold, and Edna St. Vincent
Millay and T.S. Elliot before you
say all you will read will be Mr.
Countee Cullen and Nikki
Giovanni... you must have it all.”
“It is imperative that you
language which is standard
American English. It is im
perative that you understand this
language so well that you can
ball up a few words in your palm
and throw them against the wall
and make them bounce like a
rubber ball. The poem below
was written by a Black poet in the
1930’s reflecting the self image of
the Black race.
She does not know her
beauty
She thinks her brown body has
no glory
If she could dance naked under
palm trees
And see her image she would
know
But there are no palm trees on
the street
She does not know her beauty
She thinks her brown body has
no glory
If she could dance naked under
And see her image she would
know
But there are no palm trees on
the street
To explain the present self
images that black people have of
themselves as manifested by
society, Ms. Angelou quoted
Mark Twain, “If you will have a
person enslaved, the first thing
you must do is convince yourself
that the person is subhuman. The
second thing you must do is
convince your allies that the
person is subhuman. But the
third and unkindest out of all is
to convince that person that he
or she is subhuman."
According to Maya Angelou,
when the plan has been
successfully carried out, “the
initiator can stand away from the
deed and ask the victim; why do
you hate yourself so much? Why
are your neighborhoods in such
disrepair? Why do your children
jump and fall and drop out of
school? Why do you abuse and
mutilate and violate and kill each
other?”
After the deed is done, “the
victim perpetuates it and gives
phrases such as, "She’s dark but
she doesn’t have good hair,
meaning further from the
African and .... closest to the
European.”
Maya Angelou concluded by
saying, “When a person tells
another person, ‘stay Black and
beautiful,’ what he or she is really
saying to the listener is survive
and do better than that, Thrive
with some passion, some com
passion, some humor, and some
style!”
Dr. Stewart and Pamela Scott
presented Maya Angelou with
the Spelman: a Centennial
Celebration pictorial history
book. The English Club presi
dent, Angela Whitfield,
presented her with flowers.
Haki Madhubuti Speaks At Morehouse’s MLK Chapel
by Lisha B. Brown
Associate Editor
Haki R. Madhubuti (Don L.
Lee) opened his message with a
poem dedicated to the struggle
of the 60’s. His poem spoke of
the "coolness" and the beauty of
our people during this period.
But as the poem ended, and as
the heart of his message began to
form, he concentrated on the
present “climate of de - revolu
tion” among our people.
The founder of the Third
World Press, the largest Black
publishing company, spoke out
against the quiet submission and
“turning the other cheeck syn
drome” which has taken over
our race. Madhubuti said, “We
find greater pleasure working for
our enemies than working for
ourselves. Blacks do not use their
education to aid their people.
Education for liberation is not a
priority among us and still we
continue to ask ‘Why is it we are
not free?"
During his first visit to
Morehouse, he explained to an
attentive audience, "We are
products of a popular culture.
We receive the majority of our
information through the mass
media which is filtered, inter
preted, and diluted by someone
else.”
Through the process of critical
thinking and analysis,
Madhubuti broke down the
cultural problems of our people.
He explained these problems to
his audience, then gave his own
proposed solutions. He
emphasized, "We must be
bicultural. The key is to com
municate within two cultures,
ours and the western white
world’s. But what we come from
is most important.”
He spoke out against the Black
intellectual class, which fails to
use its talents to answer perti
nent questions necessary for the
continuing survival of the Black
race; and how Blacks allow
themselves to be led by this
incompetence. Madhubuti urg
ed those students present to
We must be
bicultural.
The key is to
communicate
within two
cultures...
“dislike incompetence.” "I’m
sorry, but some of these instruc
tors need to retire and you all
know it. Do not allow these
instructors to come into class and
play with you,” he added.
He brought out our concepts
of singlemindedness, “doing our
own thing;” our living for the
weekend mentality; our inability
to distinguish between needs
and wants; and our super -
egotism which makes us eager to
instruct, but never willing to take
instructions.
Madhubuti went on to say,
“Black male and female
reltionshipsareat an all time low.
Contrary to common beliefs
children are not a priority among
our people.” As a solution to this
problem he stated, "We must
become progressively conscious
of others. Speak to your brothers
and sisters, don’t cross the street
to avoid them. Become more
family oriented. A people who
do not see their children as a
priority are a doomed people.”
"Study is the key,” said
Madhubuti, "We must work for
ourselves. College is a job. We
must have a desire to work." He
also encouraged his listeners to
become more disciplined, learn
to think critically and analytical
ly, and stop accepting everything
as gospel truth. Become
politically active, not only within
the school, but within the com
munity as well. Madhubuti also
expressed a desperate need for
our race to become more land
conscious. “By 1983 we will be a
landless people if the present
trend continues."
The author of eleven works,
including From Plan to Planet,
Enemies — The Clash of Races,
and Book of Life, self - confident
ly told his audience, "We are the
first people. We must retake
what has been taken from us, but
this is not an overnight process.
We must first obtain a self -
knowledge of ourselves. Then
we can obtain a knowledge of
what is in the minds and the
hearts of others.”