Gather+together+in+my+name


 * Maya Angelou otherwise born as Marquerite Johnson was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis Missouri. She is the daughter of Bailey and Vivian Johnson. She spent her early career dancing at the Roma Opera House and Hambina Theatre. She has recieved many degrees such as the Mills College in 1975, the Lawerence University in 1976, and the first Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake Forest Universtiy in 1981. She has written many books and poetry such as //Gather Together in my Name, I know why the Caged Bird Sings, And Still I Rise, All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, On The Pulse of Morning:The Inaugural Poem, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas and The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou.// Her best known work is //I know Why the Caged Bird Sings// because it was nominated for the National Book Award. She has many occupations such as a poet, dancer, writer, film producer, television writer, playwright, film director, author, and actress. ||~  ||
 * [[image:maya_angelou.jpg width="278" height="353" caption="(maya_angelou.jpg)"]] || **QUOTES From //Gather Together In My Name//**

As they pass around the baby, the whole family is making remarks about how it has small lips, small nose, or small feet, **"Jesus, he look like he's white. He could pass." "I shriveled that she could say such a terrible thing about my baby, but I had no nerve to cover my prize and walk away"(17).** This quote is significant because how people thought that a baby that was of another race looked nothing like its parents. Its almost like they are making fun of them because they think the baby is not even hers. Her family is passing around the baby so everybody can look at the beauty of the baby. One of the family members just had to say that he looks like he is white. || 1. "maya_angelou.jpg" Web. 18 November, 2009.  2. "maya_angelou.jpg" Web. 18 November, 2009.  3. "maya2.gif" Web. 18 November, 2009.  4. "angelou.jpg" Web. 18 November, 2009.  5. Maya., Angelou,. //Gather together in my name.// New York: Random House, 1974. Print. || History Lesson Learned There has been many things I have learned in reading this book that we have been studying in history this year. I have learned more about how the relationships between blacks and whites was still not strong. People just trying to stand up to themselves were not even given a chance. Blacks never had a say so in what went on in the world. As time went by in the book //Gather Together in my Name// Maya realizes that life is harder than people really think, but people can make it through it. To have a baby and have someone tell you he could pass as a white is a very negative thing to happen in the society of blacks. They take it very personally. I would also, but its almost like you want your baby to be white so he could have the better life that he should have. In the other sense, you want him to be black to stand up to what he believes in, and to make it through with you instead of against you. People should be treated as equally as possible like in the sociey we live in today. I believe we live in a society of equalness. We are all humans why should some humans have to suffer just because of their skin color? I have learned just by reading our history book more in depth of what a society really goes through, and how they can succeed. ||
 * Vivian, her mother, told her this before she left town, **"Be the best of anything you get into. If you want to be a whore, it's your life. Be a damn good one. Don't chippy at anything. Anything worth having is worth working for" (30).** Vivian was trying to tell Maya that if she wanted to be anything then she should go out and do it. If you are going to do this job of being a whore then you better be a very good one. You should always try your hardest to be the thing you want to be in life, and do a very good job at being it. Nobody wants to have a job that they don't like, but if you put effort in it everyday it might get better. ||  ||
 * [[image:maya_7.jpg caption="(maya2.gif)"]] || Before this quote, Maya is asking Hank if he could do her a little favor. She was wondering if he could look over some business for her. **"In another century that face would have so frightened a slave owner that he would have been compelled to lash the broad back and shackle the wide hands"** **(61)**. This reminds me of what we are studying right now. The face that Hank gave Maya would have been not appropriate if he lived in the 1800's of the slaves. The answer to her question was not the response that Maya was hoping for, but he did say yes. ||
 * Before this quote they were talking about how all of the disputes about races in Arkansas in 1940 were still a problem. The Angelou family moved to California instead. **"No one asked, because they all needed to believe that a land existed somewhere, even beyond the Northern Star, where Negroes were treated as people and whites were not the all-powerful orgres of their experience (77).** This explains how blacks were still being treated unfairly during Maya Angelou's timie. This quote also explains that there is going to be a place where the blacks were treated the same as the whites. The whites should not have all of the power in the world. || [[image:maya_6.jpg width="325" height="305" caption="(angelou.jpg)"]] ||
 * During this quote, Maya walks into a General Merchandise Store to pick up a few things. She is stopped by a white lady at the entrance. She wants to come out first, and tells Maya to wait her turn. Maya refuses to do so and puts her life in danger, but she does not realize it. **"For if I need to allude to your pitiful selves, I shall call you Miss Idiot,Miss Stupid, Miss Fool or whatever name a luckless fate has dumped upon you" (91).** Maya told the white lady that her name was Miss Johnson. This shows how racial discrimination was still going on in Arkansas in the 1940's. This is an important quote because it never happened in California. Maya did not expect it to be a big deal, but now the clerk got involved on the dispute. Maya was two against one so she had to walk away. ||  ||
 * < [[image:maya_8.jpg width="320" height="402" caption="(maya_angleou.jpg)"]] || In this last quote, Maya comes home from the General Merchandise Store, and her momma is outside waiting for her because she was in shock. Maya did not know what she was doing. She thought something terrible had gone wrong. Her momma had just got a call from the store telling how she was "showing out downtown." Maya tries to defend herself in every way possible, **"Momma, it was a principle."** She is trying to say it was her duty to stand up to herself. Momma tells her that it does not matter if you were trying to stick up for yourself that people can get killed for saying the wrong things down here in Arkansas. Maya says this to Momma many times, but slaps her across her face each time to get her point across. Momma is trying to teach Maya that it is different in Arkansas than it was in Caifornia. ||
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