Maya Angelou: I can and I will How could a mute of almost five years inspire men and women of all ages to do what they love no matter their circumstances? Maya Angelou did just that. She not only overcame racial discrimination, but she also overcame sexist views of her day in age. Maya Angelou is a prime example of one who has used their struggles to develop talents with remarkable success. Throughout Maya’s childhood, she was made to overcome circumstances to allow her full potential to shine. In the first days of April 1928, St. Louis, Missouri, became the home of a new baby by the name of Marguerite Annie Johnson. Shortly after her birth, she no longer answered to the name Marguerite but rather Maya, the nickname her brother, Bailey, …show more content…
Both Maya and Bailey were sent to live in Stamps, Arkansas with their grandmother who had little, but supported them with her personally owned general store (Finn). Not only did Maya have trials within her home, but being African-American, she continually had the sword of racial prejudices thrust at her. Yet again, at the age of seven, Maya suffered at the hands of another when she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. The man did not live long enough to be punished, for once Maya told of the assault, her uncles beat him to death (Sernoffsky). She believed his death to be her fault. Sernoffsky claims Maya once said, “I was seven and a half, and my seven-and-a-half-year-old logic deduced that my voice had killed him. So, I stopped speaking for almost six years.” Once these six years had passed, Maya journeyed to San Francisco, California, where she attended the California Labor School on a scholarship for dance and drama (Sernoffsky; Biography.com). She attended for only a brief time before she was hired as the first female cable car conductor (Biography.com). Maya did return to school and graduated at the age of sixteen. Shortly after, she gave birth to a son she named