Black History Month Program
STILL I RISE
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Clazzical Notes will observe Black History Month with a tribute to an icon of our era: Maya Angelou.
An unremarkable beginning of a life would seemingly shape the destiny of Marguerite Johnson. Born in St. Louis, Missouri, in 1928, she experienced all the unfortunate challenges of too many Black families: poverty, her parents’ divorce, relocation to her grandmother’s house, and a brutal rape followed by personal trauma and an aftermath leading to five years of absolute silence. An early life of bad breaks and unfortunate choices led the young Marguerite to a short-lived choice of prostitution, an early pregnancy and failed marriages. But the world would come to see that this determined young woman, who we revere as Maya Angelou, was not going to let her life be determined by circumstance. |
She met people who believed in her and discovered that, although by society’s superficial standards she might have been considered lacking, she had a multitude of talents, especially the ability to write, act, sing and speak eloquently. She became a gifted teacher by word and example on the importance of self-determination, human decency and female empowerment. She taught us that we each decide who we will become and are not defined by others. Her ability to make words sing with poignancy and hope made her an icon of her generation, loved and respected by people around the world as a poet, singer, memoirist, and civil rights activist
Clazzical Notes’ tribute, Still I Rise, will resonate with people of any age who have been marked by society’s judgment: people who desire safety, education and the wish to be productive in this culture, or perhaps have attended schools that cause agony for students who are considered different, or may live in neighborhoods plagued by violence, poverty, or racial stigma, all creating the fear of even trying to thrive.
Maya’s Angelou’s brilliant life ended with her death in 2014. Yet her poetry carries her messages forward in ways relevant to many lives today. Still I Rise will show through music, Song, Spoken Word and expressive movement the importance of courage, self-empowerment and determination.
Clazzical Notes’ tribute, Still I Rise, will resonate with people of any age who have been marked by society’s judgment: people who desire safety, education and the wish to be productive in this culture, or perhaps have attended schools that cause agony for students who are considered different, or may live in neighborhoods plagued by violence, poverty, or racial stigma, all creating the fear of even trying to thrive.
Maya’s Angelou’s brilliant life ended with her death in 2014. Yet her poetry carries her messages forward in ways relevant to many lives today. Still I Rise will show through music, Song, Spoken Word and expressive movement the importance of courage, self-empowerment and determination.