Still I Rise TavieS              

by Maya Angelou

Does my sassiness upset you?

Why are you beset with gloom?

'Cause I walk like I've got oil wells

Pumping in my living room.

Just like moons and like suns,

With the certainty of tides,

Just like hopes springing high,

Still I'll rise.

Did you want to see me broken?

Bowed head and lowered eyes?

Shoulders falling down like teardrops,

Weakened by my soulful cries?

Does my haughtiness offend you?

Don't you take it awful hard

'Cause I laugh like I've got gold mines

Diggin' in my own backyard.

You may shoot me with your words,

You may cut me with your eyes,

You may kill me with your hatefulness,

But still, like air, I'll rise.

Does my sexiness upset you?

Does it come as a surprise

That I dance like I've got diamonds

At the meeting of my thighs?

Out of the huts of history's shame

I rise

Up from a past that's rooted in pain

I rise

I'm a black ocean, leaping and wide,

Welling and swelling I bear in the tide.

Leaving behind nights of terror and fear

I rise

Into a daybreak that's wondrously clear

I rise

Bringing the gifts that my ancestors gave,

I am the dream and the hope of the slave.

I rise

I rise

I rise.

          Maya Angelou is a woman that is from St Louis,Missouri.She is an author,singer,performer,and civil rights activist.Also known for autobiographical books such as All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes, Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Like Christmas,etc.One of her books,of which is Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Die,was nominated for a Publitzer prize.

         The first black woman directorin Hollywood,Angelou has written produced,directed,and stared in production for stage,film,and television.At his request,M.L.K.jr Ms.Angelou became his northern coordinator for the Southern Cristain Leadership Conference in 1959.From 1961-1962 she was associate editor of The Arab Obsever in Cairo,Egypt.In 1971,she wrote the original screenplay and musical score for the film Georgia,Georgia.Also was both author and executive producer of a five part television series "Three Way Choice."

          She has also written and produced several prize-winning documentaries,including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she recieved the Golden Eagle Award.Angelou was nominated for a Tony award for acting : once for her Broadway debut Look Away (1973),and again for her performance in Foots (1977).She returned to the U.S. in 1974 and was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commision and later by Jimmy Carter to the Comission for International Woman Of The Year.

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