Angelou do?" How would she engage as an activist mentor in this moment?" In this moment I'm left wondering, "What would Dr. They've come free from bronchitis but carrying tangible anger and anxiety as they sense the space for their voices narrowing. In the wake of the 2016 election, many young women have come to me. What she offered was a more powerful, collective, and structural model of mentoring, one that I come to understand as activist mentoring. Maya Angelou at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.īut learning how to addresses personal challenges was only a fraction of what I learned at Dr. Overnight, the volume of fan mail increased exponentially and gave me a front row seat to the history-making potential of a black woman's public voice. I was working for her when she delivered her poem, "On the Pulse of Morning" at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton. She charged me with identifying and bringing to her the most compelling requests for assistance, donations, or advocacy. Angelou for transforming what they saw reflected in their mirrors into poetic reminders of their phenomenal womanhood. Each week, dozens of black girls and women thanked Dr. Every day there were letters from women who found the courage to reveal their own survival of sexual assault after reading her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Angelou did more than offer me an individual opportunity, she put me in a position to understand the influence her writing and speaking had on thousands of people throughout the world. I came to her feeling in over my head she refused to let me sink.īy assigning me to work with her correspondence, Dr. It altered the trajectory of my life and gave me opportunities I could never have previously imagined. Angelou initiated a mentoring relationship that endured more than two and half decades. At the very moment I expected to be rejected, Dr. I came to her feeling in over my head she refused to let me sink. I would spend the summer opening and answering fan mail so I could also take courses and stay on track and remain eligible for my scholarship. Then she offered me a job as an assistant. Angelou asked me two questions: "Aren't you a scholarship student? Will you still be eligible for your scholarship if you drop these classes?" She ought to have signed my drop form and sent me on my pitiful way. I realize now that all this must have sounded ridiculous to the world-renowned poet, author, and activist. My excuses: I had pledged a sorority, developed bronchitis, and experienced a multi-week allergic reaction to antibiotics. When I was 18 years old, I dropped a course with Maya Angelou halfway through the semester.
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