Marguerite Ann Johnson more commonly known today as “Maya Angelou is an American author and poet” (absolute astronomy, web). She was a key component in the civil rights movement and worked alongside prominent figures such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm journalist, novelist, educator". , playwright, producer, actress, historian, director and civil rights activist. Angelou has received over 50 honorary degrees and is a professor of American studies at Wake Forest University. (Maya Angelou Official Website) In 1969, one of Angelou's most important works, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was published. This semi-biographical work earned her fame "as a spokesperson for the black community and more specifically for black women." (starglimpse, web)Angelou has made many contributions, particularly to the world of literature. With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1969 she became "one of the first African-American women to publicly discuss her personal life". (Wikipedia) Mary Helen Washington wrote in her study Invented Lives: Narratives of Black Women 1860-1960, “Nineteenth- and early twentieth-century black women's autobiographies had been frozen into self-consciousness by the need to defend women and men blacks against the vicious and prevalent stereotypes. They found it difficult to rewrite themselves as central characters, only in private could they talk about their personal lives." (Als, The New Yorker) In perhaps her most notable work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, “Angelou's account of her childhood and adolescence recounts her frequent encounters with racism, sexism, and classism at the same time as which she... . middle of the card ......ent, a world of respect, a world where all men and women are valued, no one superior to another, no one inferior to another because of his color or his race or your religion or cultural belief. This is the best we can hope for. And so when we talk about the dream, I think if Martin Luther King said he had a dream, I think this is America's dream. This is us at our best." Another theme evident in Still I Rise is persistence. For example, in lines three and four it says, “You may tread me into the dirt / But still, like the dust, I will rise” (Angelou, 3-4). Angelou, like all of us, has faced her fair share of struggle in life, but what makes her so influential and inspiring to so many is her tenacity. No matter what obstacles he had to overcome in his life, he sends us all a message to never give up and always keep getting back up..