Film
honors
will be
bestowed
Theater community will
honor director, screenwriter
and costume designer
CHRONICLE STAFF REPORT ^
The National Black Theatre Festi
val will continue the tradition of hon
oring those who have made great
strides in the world of film. This year,
three greats who have worked behind
the camera will be receive awards
during the Aug. 4 Opening Night
Gala. Also, some of their work will be
c?pn OB narf rtf I
the National
Black Film
Festival. a
fairly new
wing of the
NBTF.
Charles
Burnett and
Trevor Rhone
will receive
Lifelong
Achievement
in Film
Burnett
awarus. Bur
nett's films include I990's "To Sleep
With Anger" and I977's "Killer of
Sheep." Burnett is highly respected in
the industry and among critics. He is
also the recipient of a MacArthur Fel
lowship Foundation Genius grant.
"Kingston, Jamaica-native Rhone
also is respected in show-biz circles.
The screenwriter won The Genie for
Best Original Screenplay for the
movie "Milk and Honey." Rhone's
most recent film, "One Love," pre
miered at the Cannes Film Festival in
Cannes. France. Rhone is also a win
ner of the Norman Manley Award for
Excellence in the Dramatic Arts.
Ruth Carter, two-time Academy
Award-nominated costume designer,
will he saluted for her high caliber
body of work.
Carter received Oscar nominations
for her work in "Malcolm X " and
"Amistad." Some of Carter's works
are on display at Winston-Salem State
University's Diggs Gallery. See page
48 for more information about Carter
and her work.
Phenomenal Woman
Maya Angelou says she feels right at home in Winston-Salem
(Editor's note: Maya Angelou was instru
mental is helping Lirry Leon Hamlin start the
National Black Theatre Festival, and her sup
port has done much for the festival. Here is a
profile The Chronicle did on the world-famous
poet and city resident. It originally ran on Nov.
7,2002.)
BY T. KEVIN WALKER
THE CHRONIC! I
Growing up, Maya Angelou never
dreamed that her words would have the
ability to inspire and move people, that
her regal presence and thoughtful
insights would leave everyone - from
U.S. presidents to the average Joe - in
complete awe, that her body of work
would make her one of the most influen
tial writers of the 2()th century.
Angelou said she always believed
she would be successful, just not as a
multifaceted artist.
"I did think I was going to be a suc
cessful real estate broker," Angelou said
during an interview over the weekend. "I
would have a brief case, I knew 1 "would
have an attache case, and I would wear
high heels and matching purses. I just
knew that. It never occurred to me that I
would become any of what I have
become."
Through her work as a writer, direc
tor, singer, actress, social activist and
humanitarian, what Angelou has become
is one of the most respected people in the
country today. Admiration for Angelou -
a St. Louis native who was reared in
Arkansas and California - runs espe
cially deep in Winston-Salem, where she
has called home for the last two decades.
The job of Reynolds professor of
American studies at Wake Forest Uni
versity brought Angelou to the city. Her
generosity, openness and kindness have
endeared her to its people.
Winston-Salem State University said
thank-you to Angelou yesterday with a
daylong celebration on the campus.
Angelou read selections from her body
OI WWK UIIU IIIC M.IIUUI .-> CIIV/li IIU.I.T
of her poems to music. A roundtable discussion
was also held to discuss the impact of Angelou \s
work.
Angelou said she was delighted by the
honor.
"I am a friend of Winston-Salem State. I
have been since I moved here."
In 1998, the Maya Angelou Institute for the
Improvement of Child and Family Education
was established at WSSU. The institute address
es educational needs for children and tries to pro
vide remedies for families to some of life's chal
lenges. A gala to celebrate Angelou's 7()th birth
day featuring Quincy Jones and Ashford and
Simpson was held at WSSU to raise money to
open the institute.
Angelou has left her mark locally in many
other ways as well. For example, she was instru
mental in helping the biennial National Black
Theatre Festival become a reality in the late
1990s. Late last year, she signed over a collec
tion of her personal manuscripts to Wake Forest
University. The collection spans Angelou's liter
ary career and is worth an estimated $500,000.
Angelou said she loves Winston-Salem as
much as the city loves her. The people make it
appealing, she said.
"No place is worth anything without the peo
ple. You could live on the 90th fkx)r of the pent
house on Fifth Avenue, but if you don't have
_. File Phrtc
Maya Angelou speaks at a community event in 1999.
people around you to'make you laugh and make
you smile and to enjoy a pot of greens or roast
beef with, then none of it matters."
In her most recent autobiography. "A Song
Flung lip to Heaven," Angelou details her work
with civil rights icons Martin Luther King Jr. and
Malcolm X. At one point, Angelou served as a
regional director for the Southern Christian
Leadership Conference.
At 74, Angelou still proudly wears the title of
social activist. Last week, she joined former Sec
retary of Labor Alexis Herman for a Winston
Salem rally for Erskine Bowles, Democratic
nominee for U.S. Senate in North Carolina. She
also has traveled to New York this electiqp sea
son to campaign on behalf of Carl McCail, the
Democrat who tried to unseat Gov. George Pata
ki.
"We are all political, whether we know it or
not. whether we do anything about it or not."
Angelou said. **I have long believed that instead
of cursing the darkness, I might at least strike a
match. There is something I can do."
Angelou said she would like to see more
young people take more of an interest in
addressing the issues that plague society.
"I wish more young people were even obser
vant of what is going on around them. But even
if they aren't, life will wake them up."
But Angelou is not one who finds fault in
everything that young people do. In fact.
she said, she admires young people great
ly. She has attended a massive poetry
slam event in California, where hip-hop
generation poets read their works, often
at a fanatieal pace. 0
"I love to see and hear young men
and women say what they think. I support
slams." said Angelou, who added,
though, that she is not a hig fan of work
that features vulgarity simply for the sake
of being vulgar.
Angelou believes that many older
people dismiss the issues and culture of
younger people because they lacked
something in their own youth.
"One ought to try to be. I think, spiri
tually and intellectually young. I can't
undo the lines," she said, gently touching
parts of her face. "I think some older peo
ple are mean to young people because
they didn't enjoy their own youth. Well. I
had a ball." -
"A Song Rung Up to Heaven" is the
last in Angelou's series of autobiogra
phies. which began in 1070 with the
release of her signature work. "I Know
Why the Caged Bird Sings."
The latest book ends at the point in
Angelou's life when she began to write 'I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
"I never wanted to write about writ
ing," she said when asked about stopping
the autobiographical series. "But I do
want to continue to write."
Angelou is working on -a cookbook
that will mesh stories and recipes. The
recipe for her greens will be included in
the book, she says. In an aside during the
Bowles rally, Alexis Herman praised
Anoclmi'c unvni; :k otiw nf the h??U vht?
has ever tasted.
Angelou said she also will continue to pub
lish poetry and essays. She is also in talks to
direct again. Most recently, she directed the crit
ically acclaimed film "Down in the Delta."
Angelou is hoping to bring Bebe Moore Camp
bell's book "Singing in the Comeback Choir" to
the big screen. Angelou also is hoping to recruit
actor Wesley Snipes for the film. Snipes also
appeared in "Down in the Delta."
Angelou said the many facets of the work
that she does often takes her away from Win
ston-Salem. But she said she will always return
here, even though her fame would grant her
prestige in any city in the world.
"I have no plans to leave. This is my home."
she said, flashing her trademark smile. "My
paintings are here; my books are here; my struc
ture is here."