Angelou
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his freedom. Angelou has also lent
her famous name to local projects and
causes.
In 1989. the late Larry Leon Hamlin
was greatly aided in his effort to start
the National Black Theatre Festival
after Angelou signed on as a supporter
and brought pal Winfrey onboard as
well.
She ecstatically gave here OK for
Wake Forest University School of
Medicine to use her name for its effort
to end racial health disparities. The
school's Maya Angelou Research
Center on Minority Health is involved
? in a myriad of educational outreach and
research initiatives aimed at African
American, Hispanic and American
Indian communities. She also worked
with Winston-Salem State University to
establish its Maya Angelou Institute for
the Improvement of Child and Family
Education in 1998.
Over the years, her public appear
ances have become rarer, but Angelou
has never let a year pass witheut^gTvrng
a local book signing or taking part in a
community event or forum. She says
she loves meeting her fans and neigh
bors - usually.
"Sometimes I don't go out as much
because some people lose their cour
tesy, and they run up to me, grab my
cloths and pull on me and so forth," she
said. "But I ask for it, obviously,
because I asked to be successful. So I
< can't be angry with people."
Angelou has had a lot of time to
adjust to fame. She has been in the
limelight, in some form or another, for
most of her life. But she never dreamed
that she would be who she is today. The
notion that her work would be adored
by the masses, never crossed her mind.
"I had no idea," she said emphatical
ly. "I figured I would be. successful
because I knew I would work hard, but
I thought I would be a successful real
estate agent and I would carry an
attach^ case and wear matching shoes."
Her work ethic - which includes
writing nearly every day - has garnered
her not only fame, but fortune as well;
she is grateful for both.
"It is a blessing. I can live very well.
I can help a lot of people live well," she
said. "I can be generous in my churches
and organizations and with my family
and my friends."
Her blood kin includes her only
child ?*- Guy Johnson, a California-based
author, whom she has called her "mon
ument in the world." Also at the center
of her heart is her grandson, Colin, who
lives in Washington, D.C., and has
twice made Angelou a great-grand
mother.
"I see them about once a month,"
she said of her grandson and
1 3 great-grandchildren. "I would
WFUBMC Pholo
Maya Angelou speaks at a 2005 fundraising concert for the Maya Angelou
Research Center on Minority Health.
like to see them every day."
Rosa Johnson Butler, Angelou's
niece, lives here in Winston-Salem and
is often by her aunt's side. Butler, a
Salem College graduate, has jitsJ co
authored, "Maya Angelou: A Glorious
Celebration," a book that extols
Angelou's life and work.
Butler is one of the children of
Angelou's brother. Bailey Johnson, who
she made famous in the pages of "I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings."
Angelou lost her beloved brother in
October 1999.
Angelou says when she thinks about
the future, she not only ponders the
tomorrows of her grandchildren, but of
everyone's children and grandchildren.
Pile Photo
Angelou's only child, Guy Johnson.
She doesn't like what she sees on the
news each night or reads in the morning
newspaper. An image of young black
youths is being presented that is not
entirely accurate, she believes.
"I know that is not the only story.
They often show us the sensational part
of life," she said. "I know that the
poverty and brutality and drugs exist,
however, I also know that the largest
percentage of my people are just hard
working people trying to get their chil
dren through school and the grits on the
table - that is the majority. It is also
possible to talk about the good things."
She is on a college campus, other
than Wake Forest's, nearly every
month, speaking horiestly and directly
to young people. She especially wants
to drive home to black youths that the
struggles and sacrifices of yesterday
were done for their benefit.
"You can't really know where ygu
are going until you know where you
have been," she said. "You need to
know, that not only did people do great
things, but they did them for (today's
generation). They did the great things
so that they could leave a legacy."
As for her own legacy? It is still
very much a work in progress. Age mav
have had some effect on Angelou'^
bones, but her brilliant mind is ageless.
She brags that she "works pretty much
every day." Nowadays that work
includes finishing up another book of
essays, which her publisher would like
on bookshelves by the end of the year.
But no one puts a timetable on Maya
Angelou - whose name has taken up
permanent residence on the best-seller
charts.
"When I finish it, it will be fin
ished," she said bluntly.
File Photo
Angelou speaks at the Opening Night
Gala for the 2007 National Black
Theatre Festival. Also pictured is
Ralph Meadows.
She has just completed a poem for
the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics,
although she says she will not attend the
games. Angelou says she is not neces
sarily skipping the Olympics because of
Communist China's shoddy human
rights record. She is not going because
of the "orneriness" of the long airplane
flight.
Angelou also wants to get back into
the director's chair. She made her fea
ture film directorial debut with 1998's
"Down in the Delta." Talks are still
ongoing for her to direct a screen adap
tation of a novel by the late writer Bebe
Moore Campbell.
She also plans to take some time this
year to study at the Unity School of
Christianity, better known as the Unity
Church. Angelou has been a proponent
of the church's holistic Christian prin
ciples for decades and decided some
time ago that in her "80th year of life,"
she would travel to Unity Village, Mo.,
(the church's headquarters) to study.
Angelou still has much living to do.
That's why when those thoughts of
death sneak up, she almost immediately
tucks them away in the back of her
mind.
"It does not come to linger," she
said.
She lives by her own advice when it
comes to aging.
"If you have the chance to grow
older, do so with some grace and some
gratitude."