We will remember the "Phenomenal Woman"
who always remembered us and taught us
what it means to be fully human.
Maya Angelou, born on April 4, 1928 and named Marguerite Annie Johnson, made her transition on May 21, 2014 to the realm called immortality. She was an author, poet par excellence, civil rights activists, actress and masterly storyteller. After the publication of her autobiogaphy in 1969, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," for nearly a half century her writings, lectures and interviews have inspired people of all races, ethnicities, genders, faiths and ages.
In 1993 she wrote and delivered for President Bill Clinton's inauguration a poem titled "On the Pulse of Morning" that celebrated diversity, fortitude and vicissitude. That poem inspired this writer that same year to write a poem by the same title that focused on the history of African Americans. (See addendum to this article.) Angelou never failed to address race and supported Malcolm X, Martin Luther King, Jr., James Baldwin, Nelson Mandela, and other leaders of the struggle for justice and equality for African Americans.
Some times Angelou was critical of African American leaders, including President Obama who in 2011 bestowed on her the Presidential Medal of Freedom. In paying tribute to her Obama said Maya inspired his mother to name his sister Maya. Followig the October 11, 2011 dedication of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Memorial in Washingtron, D.C., Angelou was critical of the image of the sculpture of King with his arms crossed on the 30-foot tall statue. She said it made King look like and "arrogant twit." She also said that the inscription on the north face of the statue that reads: "I was a drum major for justice, peace and righteousness" did not convey the full message that King had presented when he delivered those words.
Maya endorsed Clarence Thomas to be on the Supreme Court. Speaking of Thomas, she said "His judicial philosophy did not matter, only his race mattered." This writer had taken a similar position and had during the Senate hearings to confirm Thomas, with Celes King III held news conferences expressing support for Thomas. Celes King, an African American Brigadier General in the California National Guard and a staunch Republican had been a strong supporter of this writer's campaign in 1978 when he was a candidate for the House of Representatives. Like Angelou there were more than a few black leaders who were in favor of Thomas being on the Supreme Court. They realized that, with a Republican President, it would not be possible to have a black justice with the philosophy of Thurgood Marshall on the Supreme Court... and that mostly any black would make a difference on what would be otherwise an all-white Supreme Court.
In her poem "Phenomenal Woman" Angelou writes:
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me,
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see. ...
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman.
That's me.
This writer concurs with Angelou. He "still can't see" enough of what this "Phenomenal Woman," possesses. But he sees a woman of faith, tenacity, dignity, love beauty and, as she declared of herself, "a child of God." When he put together all that he knows about Angelou, he exclaims, she was and will continue in perpetuity to be "Encourager-in-Chief."
ADDENDUM
Angelou inspired his writer to write his own "On the Pulse of Morning."
History, despite our holocaust, lives in
consciousness,
But new historians must write, "Never again!"
Lift us your heads, my friends, and greet your
new daybreak.
And once again affirm life.
Revive your spirits that empower and
direct you to live life fully.
Here on the pulse of this new day
Dare to have the zeal to face this day
with mammoth possibilities, tremendous
challenges, and delights.
And say with grace, power, goodwill and hope,
"Good morning! Good morning!"
(Taken from "The Saint Troubadour"
by Uriah J. Fields, p.172)
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