Maya Angelou showed how to survive rape and racism

Maya Angelou’s success journal through segregation and Racism occurs during the time when segregation was real and was very sure that very many black students did not have an idea of how the whites looked. Maya Angelou thought that for her to look beautiful she had to be white. (Arensberg 44). Maya Angelou liked reading very much, but she had a sense of guilty the moment it dawned on her that the shake spare was white. It was a believer in Momma that it was not very safe for any black person to talk to any white person.

When Maya Angelou was young Momma used to start the day at four o`clock in the morning so that she could feed the cotton farmers lunch. In the evening, she would return not having enough to feed her family. The first job that Maya Angelou gets was working for a white woman when she was just ten. It was at this one instant that she realizes that discrimination and segregation were real. Her employer never took the time to know her name but she just nicknamed her Mary to show how superior she was over Maya Angelou. It was during the graduation of both Maya Angelou and her employer where a white speaker stood to address families. Among the many things that the speaker spoke about was the technological advancement in the white schools and academic improvements they had. When he addressed the black school all, he would say about their athletic developments. In his capacity, the speaker was underrating the black schools destroying what was supposed to be an event of joy for everyone.

(Arensberg 30).

One time Maya Angelou has a bad tooth that required immediate professional attention. Momma thought it was to bring her to a dentist who had had a transaction, but the very recent thing she would get was an immediate appointment. When Maya Angelou arrived, she learned that the dentist would prefer to put his hand in the dog`s mouth rather than hers. The climax of the racism appeared when Bailey was walking home. He found a body of a black man rotting in the street and a group of white men thinking that it was amusing. The men made Bailey load the body on the truck as they attempted to cover up the murder. Bailey was put to help demonstrate how then it was believed that whites were superior to black people. (Arensberg 45).

Even though Maya Angelou was always surrounded by negativity, feuding, and hate, she would find a method to pull through, she would, in fact, make something inspirational about herself. Literature assisted her and so were the people around her who were trying to make a difference. When Maya Angelou was younger, she could remember a very exciting boxing match. It was a black man who was not only defending his title but also justification and protection of black everywhere. His name was Joe Luis; Joe Luis won the match giving blacks hope everywhere. (Arensberg 65).
One day when Maya Angelou and Momma were working in a shop, three white girls approached, being young she allowed Momma to handle them alone. They were mocking and taunting Momma, but Momma never gave them a bad response and she ultimately won the battle. Maya Angelou embraced and used such a positive influence on her life when all that was around was hatred by showing the world how wrong it was, and she became the first black to drive in the streets. She was able to raise against all the odds, and she made a positive influence everywhere. Through the prose, Maya Angelou dealt with prejudice and other social injustices which were purely based on the color of her skin. The prose is also accompanied by Maya Angelou’s ability and maturity to handle everything that came her way. Segregation and racism played a very crucial in her younger stages of life when she was growing up in Stamps, Arkansas. Segregation was all around her and yet she managed through. With this hatred, she was able to move on with life like nothing was happening. “My race groaned. It was our people sadly falling. It was another killing, yet another black man was hanging on a tree to kill to get killed. One more woman was ambushed and raped. This might just be the end of the world to her. If Joe lost, we were back then in slavery and beyond reasonable help. It would all be true; the accusations made that we were second class human beings. Only a little higher than the ape” (Arensberg 34).

When it was time for us to be in World War II, province black men started to flow into the city ad they worked for hand in hand with illiterate white men in the defensive industry. Black men workers started to take the places once held by Japanese workers who had been interned in the US camps unjustly. Maya Angelou also noted that there was nobody who was speaking about the replacement of Japanese. The community of black people is known to pay very little attention to Japanese for they were working to make progress in their lives in the face of prejudice. (Arensberg 45).
It was the constant displacement which made Maya Angelou feel at home for the first time in the war time in San Francisco. When she entered school, she is promoted to a grade immediately, and she is later transferred to a school for whites where they were only three black students. The white students in the class would appear aggressive and well educated. At the age of fourteen Maya Angelou received a scholarship to California where she studies drama and dance. One time Maya Angelou thought it wise to take a semester of the school so that she can find a job and raise some cash. For a long time, she persisted in trying to secure herself a position as a street car conductor in the midst of racism and segregation. In the end, she becomes the first black man to work on the streetcars in San Francisco. (Arensberg 55).

In conclusion, she says that African American women should face not only the day to day problems of adolescence but also sexism and racism. It is not a surprise to her that women who overcome such always possessed very strong character. It is always true with persistence and hard work, it is possible for everyone to overcome anything in life despite its magnitude. It here where we see the young lady persistently working through hardship and then at last she emerges a win at the end.

Work cited
Arensberg, Liliane. “Death As Metaphor For Self.” Joanne, Braxton. Maya Angelou’s I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. New York: Oxford Press, 1999. 114-120