In All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes, Maya Angelou travels to Ghana with her son. Throughout her travels, she faces many hardships and experiences a personal reawakening. Maya Angelou’s personal identity, history, and experiences facilitate the realization of the goal of acceptance into Ghanaian society. Ms. Angelou moved to Ghana because she believed that she was a descendent of West African tribes. She thought that the instant the she arrived she would be welcomed with wide open arms by the natives. Unfortunately, when she arrived in Africa she came to find that the natives paid little attention to the Black Americans and even looked down on them. She was disappointed to find that her idea of Africa was not what actually came to be.
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Angelou’s son was involved in a horrendous automobile accident. He was seriously injured and was confined to the hospital for weeks. Ms. Angelou let her son’s injuries consume every aspect of her life. Her joy and personality slipped away and she lost focus of what she had wanted to accomplish in Africa. She was unable to forgive the man that caused the accident that hurt her son. One day, Ms. Angelou’s son asked her, “if I can see Richard and understand that he has been more hurt than I, what about you? Didn’t you mean all those sermons about tolerance? All that stuff about understanding? About before you criticize a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes?” (pg.7). This conversation helped to lead Ms. Angelou in the direction of snapping out of the trance of hatred and bitterness that she had been stuck in for weeks. Despite this small improvement, she still struggled with the pain caused by her son’s condition. Although she was experiencing an immense amount of sorrow, she was unable to communicate her emotions with other people and get the pain she was feeling off of her chest. Ms. Angelou was raised to believe that “Black Americans of my generation didn’t look kindly on public mourning except during or immediately after funerals. We were expected by
Angelou’s son was involved in a horrendous automobile accident. He was seriously injured and was confined to the hospital for weeks. Ms. Angelou let her son’s injuries consume every aspect of her life. Her joy and personality slipped away and she lost focus of what she had wanted to accomplish in Africa. She was unable to forgive the man that caused the accident that hurt her son. One day, Ms. Angelou’s son asked her, “if I can see Richard and understand that he has been more hurt than I, what about you? Didn’t you mean all those sermons about tolerance? All that stuff about understanding? About before you criticize a man, you should walk a mile in his shoes?” (pg.7). This conversation helped to lead Ms. Angelou in the direction of snapping out of the trance of hatred and bitterness that she had been stuck in for weeks. Despite this small improvement, she still struggled with the pain caused by her son’s condition. Although she was experiencing an immense amount of sorrow, she was unable to communicate her emotions with other people and get the pain she was feeling off of her chest. Ms. Angelou was raised to believe that “Black Americans of my generation didn’t look kindly on public mourning except during or immediately after funerals. We were expected by