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April 29, 2021
The Chronicle
Wake Forest to establish Maya Angelou Artist-in-Residence Award
SUBMITTED ARTICLE
To recognize the poet,
actress, author, singer,
teacher and civil rights
activist who has inspired
people worldwide and
taught generations of
Wake Forest students, the
University will establish
the Maya Angelou Artist-
in-Residence Award.
The new award will
honor world-renowned
artists who reflect Maya
Angelou’s passions for
creating, performing and
teaching. The award will
celebrate exceptional
artists for combining
achievement in the arts
and a commitment to im
proving the human con
dition in the spirit of the
University’s motto, Pro
Humanitate. The award
winners will visit Wake
Forest to educate and en
gage students, as well as
collaborate with faculty.
“The significance and
beauty of this award is that
it honors the life and life’s
work of my Mother while
inspiring artists who have
demonstrated a powerful
commitment to uplifting
humanity through exercis
ing virtues she lived by:
courage, creativity, hope,
tolerance and social activ
ism,” said Guy Johnson,
Dr. Angelou’s son. “To
honor her legacy, we must
look upon ourselves and
ask - What are we doing to
improve the human condi
tion?”
Additional details
Submitted photo
Maya Angelou
about the award and the
nomination process will
be announced in the fall
of 2021. The first Wake
Forest Artist-in-Residence
Award will be made in the
spring of 2022.
“Dr. Angelou taught
students - as she taught
her readers worldwide -
that artistic expression
is at the heart of human
courage, renewal and lib
eration,” said Wake For
est Provost Rogan Kersh.
“Artists honored with this
award bearing her name
will reflect that commit
ment, in their work as in
their lives. Their engage
ment with students and
other community mem
bers will further affirm the
‘wonder-working power’
of the arts, to quote a fa
vored Dr. Angelou phrase,
on our campus.”
A generous gift from a
Wake Forest alumnus will
provide funding to launch
the award.
Angelou first came to
Wake Forest in 1973 for
a speaking engagement,
starting what would be
come a long relationship
with the University. Wake
Forest awarded Angelou
an honorary degree in
1977. She was named the
University’s first Reynolds
Professor of American
Studies in 1982 and con
tinued teaching at Wake
Forest until her death in
2014. Angelou would have
celebrated her 93rd birth
day on April 4.
Over the past four
months, a committee
has worked to create the
framework for the award.
Wake Forest junior Adar-
ian Sneed has represented
the student perspective for
that group. “Her legacy
on this campus gives in
spiration for the present
and hope for the fixture,”
she said. “She understood
and could empathize with
people from all walks
of life. Furthermore, her
life’s work could touch the
hearts of so many different
people. I want the winner
of this award to hold true
to Maya Angelou’s light,”
said Sneed, who is a the
ater and business student
and was in 7th grade when
her grandmother encour
aged her to read Maya An
gelou’s ”I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings.”
As the personification
of Angelou’s philanthrop
ic legacy, the Dr. Maya
Angelou Foundation has
collaborated with Wake
Forest in support of this
meaningful tribute and
most prestigious honor for
artist awardees. Guided by
Dr. Angelou’s vision of
“... sharing in the glory
of a good life, lived joy
ously,” the foundation’s
mission is to activate posi
tive change and inspire the
next generation of critical
thinkers, creative writers
and courageous leaders
through innovative pro
grams rooted in greater ac
cess to education, equality,
and justice for all.
In a 2008 interview,
Angelou talked about her
love of teaching: “I’m not
a writer who teaches. I’m
a teacher who writes. But
I had to work at Wake For
est to know that.”
Over the years, she
taught a variety of human
ities courses, including
“World Poetry in Dramatic
Performance,” “Race, Pol
itics and Literature,” “Af
rican Culture and its Im
pact on the U.S.,” “Race in
the Southern Experience,”
and “Shakespeare and the
Human Condition.”
Angelou had immense
creative energy for teach
ing and artistic endeavors.
In 1985, she directed an
innovative production of
“Macbeth” for the Wake
Forest University Theatre.
President Bill Clinton in
vited Angelou to present
a poem at his first inaugu
ration in 1993; her poem
“On the Pulse of Morn
ing,” was later set to music
by Wake Forest’s compos
er-in-residence Dan Lock
lair. Angelou narrated the
premiere performance in
Wait Chapel.
Angelou is the author
of more than 30 books of
fiction and poetry, includ
ing her powerful autobio
graphical account of her
early life in Stamps, Ar
kansas, ”I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings” (nomi
nated for a National Book
Award), and six other
autobiographical books.
This year, a group ofWake
Forest alumni hosted a vir
tual celebration honoring
50 years of Caged Bird’s
influence in American
culture. Her volume of
poetry, ”Just Give me a
Cool Drink of Water Tore
I Die” (1971), was nomi
nated for a Pulitzer Prize.
In 2012, Business Insider
magazine named Angelou
to its top 10 list of the most
famous college professors.
In recent years, Ange
lou donated movie scripts,
drafts of plays, and other
materials related to her
work in film, television
and theater to Wake For
est’s Z. Smith Reynolds
Library. Many of the ma
terials are handwritten on
legal pads or in notebooks
with handwritten margin
notes or corrections. High
lights include the movie
scripts for “Georgia, Geor
gia” (1972) and “Down
in the Delta” (1998). The
University named a resi
dence hall in Angelou’s
honor that was dedicated
in 2017.
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