Maya & Miguel

Imagine walking back to town after a long vacation, after arriving and looking around one may find that no one is there and the place is completely abandoned. Thats a lot like what happened to the Mayans. The Mayans lived in Mesoamerica from 1800 B.C. to 900 A.D. The Mayan civilization reached its peak of power in the sixth century A.D. and had a peak population of two million. The Mayan are most known for disappearing in 900 A.D., a mystery still unknown. There are many theories around their…

By the early 1990s, Maya Angelou’s inauguration poem, spoken at Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1992, reflected upon the identity of “hyphenated Americans.” In her speech, she speaks about the diversity present in America. In fact, the United States is comprised of various ethnicities, all unique in their own way. With various ethnic groups living in the United States, this country truly is a nation of diverse cultures and languages. However, it was not always like this. In her poem, Angelou…

The Chumash people were located on the southern Coast of California. This area is fairly cool most of the year but gets very hot during the summer time (Sutton, 2012, p182). The Chumash were a larger group compared to others in the area with a population estimated at 20,000 people (Sutton, 2012, p181). The imprint of this large population can be seen in the archeological sites of their settlements. It has been observed that the dome-shaped houses were placed close to each other (Gamble, 1995,…

kind, true, merciful, generous or, honest". -Maya Angelou Marguerite Annie Johnson, better known as Maya Angelou, was born on April 4, 1928 in St.Louis, Missouri. Due to their mother's addiction problem, Maya and her brother Bailey, grew up in Arkansas with their grandmother. Eager to adjust, she learned lot about life from her grandmother, family, friends and personal experiences. At a young age, she fell in love with books, literature and poetry. Maya spent most of her life conveying messages…

The poems,”Sympathy” by Paul Laurence Dunbar and”Caged Bird” by Maya Angelou were poems about slavery. Slavery is a practice of owning a slave. Each poem had its own unique feature. As for both of them, they both had a theme of slavery. Though, both poets had lived 100 years apart, their poems were similar. Their tone were both really sad. Their theme as I had said above, were also similar. The difference they had, were their rhyme scheme. Using the caged bird as a slave and the free bird as a…

common? While the poems “Still I Rise” and “Unwelcome” contain noticeable differences in style and tone, they share similarities in them and sound. In literature, writers tend to use tone to paint a picture of what their writing is about. Throughout Maya Angelou's poem “Still I Rise” she uses a writing style that helps achieve a tone of empowerment. Over the course of Angelou’s life she was belittled and a victim of oppression. As the poem nears the end she states, “Leaving behind nights of…

The Maya civilization developed in an area that encompasses southeastern Mexico, all of Guatemala and Belize, and the western portions of Honduras and El Salvador. Time periods include: Pre-classic Period (2000 BC to 250 AD) Classic Period (250 AD to 900 AD) Post-classic Period (900 AD to 1500 AD) Colonial Period (1500 AD) The Preclassic period was a time that the Mayans thrived in farming, architecture, and they began to create their cultural. In the Preclassic age Mayan writings started…

high school. The teacher asked us to pick a famous poet, recite that poem, and explain why we choose that poet. Since Maya Angelou was my favorite poet I choose her poem “Why a caged bird sings.” The poem describes Maya Angelou as a young girl who grew up with insecurities because, as a young child Maya Angelou struggled with the pain of being rejected and abandoned. In this poem Maya Angelou captivated her readers with the portrayal of life from her early years to her adolescent years.…

In the two poems, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” by Maya Angelou and “Sympathy” by Laurence Dunbar, these short works share many similarities as they both speak on being a minority in a white world. As Maya Angelou describes her childhood in “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” and the ways of which the world became portrayed to her because of her race and the time that she grew up in, she was a visual representation of being a minority in a white world. Also, in “Sympathy” Laurence Dunbar…

The Success of Maya Angelou Marguerite Annie Johnson, born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri and died on May 28, 2014 at the soulful age of 86. Although we may know her as Maya Angelou, we can relate to her literary works in more ways than one. Her 1969 memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. She received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding…