Mid-American Conference

"Still I Rise," by Maya Angelou, is a poem written about African Americans right after the nation's Civil Rights Movement. It expresses the free spirit of all African Americans. Angelou writes of overcoming the hardships of the beginnings of the race in America. Furthermore, the poem gives people the will to rise above all inequities and flourish. Angelou's writing is loud with hope and inspiration. Her work is about survival and looks for the positive things in life, especially in a time of…

Maya Angelou was a poet, writer, actor, streetcar conductor, singer, dancer, cook, memoirist, educator, dramatist, civil rights activist and a teen mom. Where did it all start? It all started on a special day in April. Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 . Her birth name is Marguerite Annie Johnson. When she was three, her parents got divorced and she and her brother went to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. When Maya Angelou was seven, she was molested by her mother’s…

“Letter from Birmingham Jail” is a letter written by Martin Luther King Jr. dated 16 April 1963. After being arrested for protesting in Birmingham, Alabama, eight white clergymen condemned Dr. King and wrote an article disagreeing with his actions in the local newspaper. Dr. King, in return, wrote “Letter from Birmingham Jail” addressing the clergymen and their concerns. “The Perpetuation of Our Political Institutions” is a speech written and delivered by Abraham Lincoln on 27 January 1838.…

have chosen to write a transcribed interview with Martin Luther King Jr. discussing his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech. King has been interviewed, in this piece, by Petey Greene. An influential African American radio show host who often talked about the poverty and racism which African Americans had to face in America at that time. I have placed this interview in November 1964, about a month after King had received his Nobel Prize. Moreover, this interview is taking place in Birmingham,…

to back up his case he used antithesis and allusions. Examples include but are not limited to "We have waited for more than 340 years for our constitutional and God-given rights." This quote defended King's protests from being untimely as African Americans have already waited 340 years for rights that they should have received. "I have been arrested on a charge of parading without a permit. Now, there is nothing wrong in having an ordinance which requires a permit for a parade. But such an…

he has a greater strength in using emotional appeal, or pathos, than logical appeal, or logos. As he refers to the Emancipation Proclamation and the Alabama Christian Movement for human rights there are some potent arguments about how the African Americans should be treated in their own countries, but it doesn’t get the feeling that you do with the metaphors, antithesis and rhetorical questions of emotional appeal in either story. As Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. speaks to his people during the “I…

To be persistent is to continue a course of action in spite of any difficulty or opposition. Without this, no one would ever overcome their obstacles and they would never learn from their mistakes. The readings “Letter from Birmingham jail” by Martin Luther king Jr., “Graduation” by Maya Angelou and “A Homemade Education” by Malcolm X show persistency at its finest in their own individual ways. Maya Angelou and Malcolm X both share their goal for education fulfillment and stop at nothing to…

the highest encomium to a civilian was given to Angelou when President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom (“15”). Maya Angelou died at 86 years old on May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was the Reynolds Professor of American studies at Wake University for 32 years. Her students remember her fondly for her bold spirit and effervescent storytelling. In 2015, the United States Postal Service tried to honor Angelou by giving a stamp a quotation under the credence…

During her years abroad, Maya read and studied viraciously mastering 6 different languages. To add to her activities abroad, she met with the American dissident leader, Malcolm X in his visits to Ghana and corresponded with his visions and view regarding the racially polarized vision of youth, and his vision of the true maturity of youth. After returning to the United States, Maya used her experiences…

about their race. This has been an ongoing problem in the African American community in the U.S. There have been incidents that have occurred that have been made internationally known like, the beating of Rodney King in 1991 and more recently the murder of Trayvon Martin. These events cause fear in the African American community when the police are involved. In the Rodney King beating consisted of a videotape of an African American male being beat continuously by four police officers during…