{"product_id":"who-was-maya-angelou-isbn-9780448488530","title":"Who Was Maya Angelou?","description":"Born in Missouri in 1928, Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood. Jim Crow laws segregated blacks and whites in the South. Her family life was unstable at times. But much like her poem, \"Still I Rise,\" Angelou was able to lift herself out of her situation and flourish. She moved to California and became the first black—and first female—streetcar operator before following her interest in dance. She became a professional performer in her twenties and toured the U.S. and Europe as an opera star and calypso dancer. But Angelou's writing became her defining talent. Her poems and books, including \u003ci\u003eI Know Why the Caged Bird Sings\u003c\/i\u003e, brought her international acclaim.Ellen Labrecque is a former Senior Editor for Sports Illustrated for Kids and the author of over twenty nonfiction books for young readers, including biographies of Jim Thorpe and Magic Johnson.\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eWho Was Maya Angelou?\u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e January 20, 1993, was a sunny and crisp winter day in Washington, DC. Maya Angelou, a six-foot-\u003cbr\u003e tall, sixty-four-year-old African American woman, stood on the steps of the Capitol Building. She wore a black coat, bright red lipstick, and gold hoop earrings. It was the day that America’s forty-second president, William Jefferson Clinton, was taking office.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Maya was about to read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” in front of two hundred fifty thousand people. Millions more watched on their televisions at home.\u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003eIt had been thirty-two years since a poem had been read at a presidential inauguration. She was the first African American and the first woman ever to do so. Despite being a prizewinning writer, she felt nervous.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e “I tried not to realize where I was,” she said later.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e The crowd became silent and spellbound. She spoke powerfully in a deep voice that rose up and down like ocean waves as she read each line of her poem. The words called for peace and friendship between people around the world.\u003cbr\u003e It took her six minutes to read the entire poem. The last lines are:\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e And say simply\u003cbr\u003e Very simply\u003cbr\u003e With hope—\u003cbr\u003e Good morning.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e When Maya finished, the large crowd rose to its feet and broke into loud applause. President Clinton gave her a giant hug in thanks for her beautiful words.\u003cbr\u003e \u003cb\u003e \u003c\/b\u003e\u003cbr\u003e Maya Angelou was a world-famous poet and writer. She was also a teacher, a civil rights champion, and a singer and dancer. And when she spoke, she had a beautiful and strong voice that was uniquely Maya’s.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Through her ideas and words, Maya taught people to live with love and to treat one another with respect and kindness. Bringing joy to others, especially if they were down or sad, was very important. “Try to be a rainbow in someone’s cloud,” she said.\u003cbr\u003e  \u003cbr\u003e Despite a tough childhood, Maya used her voice. She became a rainbow for the whole world to see.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Penguin Workshop","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":44862254579941,"sku":"NP9780448488530","price":6.99,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":false}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/1842\/7735\/files\/9780448488530.jpg?v=1767744219","url":"https:\/\/k12savings.com\/products\/who-was-maya-angelou-isbn-9780448488530","provider":"K12savings","version":"1.0","type":"link"}