Maya Angelou's Legacy Leaders

When you think of a great worldly leader, does someone like Abraham Lincoln come to your mind – a man whom overcame many failures in his life, which led to him becoming the President of the United States or someone like Martin Luther King Jr. – a man whom was well known for the stand he took against American inequality, which led to him being the face of the Civil Rights movement in the United States. Although, both would be classified as great leaders I chose to write this Legacy Leader’s paper about a woman that I would say impacted and led from not only her writings but also her voice. A leader that guided and directed her life through many obstacles, but whom also achieved many goals set forth while leading and following other great leaders. …show more content…
Maya Angelou was known as one of the most influential female voices of the twenty first century. Acknowledged as a leader for her global movement, Dr. Angelou was a world-renowned civil rights activist, historian, poet, novelist, actress, filmmaker, dancer, singer and professor. All these different hats she wore and she did not attend one college class. Dr. Angelou displayed the truth that the world viewed and accepted into their hearts. She was a student of leadership that took on the world through self motivation, courage, and leadership. Such an inspirational leader, Dr. Maya Angelou was awarded some fifty honorary degrees from some of the world’s most prestigious universities. Dr. Angelou’s attributes contributed to her ability to view the world and express herself in a complex way to make enlightenment of the world’s different situations. A great example of Dr. Angelou’s attributes is the following poem, ''The needs of a society determine its ethics, and in the Black American ghettos the hero is that man who is offered only the crumbs from his country's table but by ingenuity and courage is able to take for himself a Lucullan feast. Hence the janitor who lives in one room but sports a robin's-egg-blue Cadillac is not laughed at but admired, and the domestic who buys forty-dollar shoes is not criticized but is appreciated. We know that they have put to use their full mental and physical powers. Each single gain feeds into the gains of the body collective.” (Maya …show more content…
Although she was born into harsh times, the backbone of her life would be brought up through unbreakable family traditions and faith. Sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Maya became mute from this traumatic experience. Dr. Angelou remained mute for five years until her teacher, Bertha Flowers, encouraged a newly found passion of literature arts. As a teenager, Dr. Angelou started to pave her way through to accomplish goals she had set forth. At the age of fourteen, she dropped out of San Francisco’s Labor School to pursue a career as a cable car conductor. Breaking barriers as a teenager, she became San Francisco’s first African American female cable car