For Women's History Month

March is Women's History Month. Yesterday, the school had a program to commemorate this. I was asked to be a speaker. I hadn't done a "speech" since I left State Farm and Toastmasters six years ago but I figured why not? I'd give it a shot. I decided to speak about Maya Angelou as a woman I admired. Here is what I said, in its entirety:

When I think about Women’s History Month, I think of women who are overcomers. Women who have experienced a bad upbringing, problems and trauma: yet managed to rise above to become the women they want to be in spite of life trying to rob them of their dreams.

One woman who did all of this was Maya Angelou. She was born on April 4, 1928 and passed on May 28, 2014. She was an American memoirist, poet and civil rights activist. She published several autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and dozens of honorary degrees. As a writer, she is a writer that I truly admire.

 

5 Quick Facts About Maya Angelou 

1. She was mute for almost six years

As a young child, Angelou spent five years in silence after her rapist, who was her mother's boyfriend, was murdered by her uncle. She believed her confession of the trauma was responsible for his death. When she finally started speaking again, it began with reciting poetry. Years later, in times of stress, Angelou would often retreat into mutism referring to it as “addictive”. 

2. As a teen, she worked as a sex worker

For a brief period in her teens, Angelou worked as a sex worker to provide for her young son. She has chronicled this experience in her 1974 autobiography "Gather Together in my Name".

 

3. She drank sherry while she wrote

Angelou’s writing ritual consisted of booking a hotel room, stripping the art from the walls and writing 10-12 pages a day on a yellow legal pad with only a bottle of sherry and a pack of cards for company. In the evening she would edit her work down to 3-4 pages, repeating this every day until she was finished. I wish I had that kind of dedication!

 

4. Martin Luther King Jr. died on her 40th birthday

Angelou was a civil rights activist in America working alongside Dr. King as the northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. According to Maya, Dr. King reminded her of her brother Bailey with his “small, beautiful speaking voice”. King was assassinated on April 4 1968, Angelou’s 40th Birthday.

 

5. She won 3 Grammy Awards

Angelou won 3 Grammy Awards, not for singing, but for her spoken word albums. She won her first Grammy for the poem On the Pulse of The Morning, which she wrote for Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993. Her other Grammy wins were for the poem Phenomenal Woman, and the audio book version of her autobiography, A Song Flung up to Heaven. To close, I’d like to read for you her Grammy-winning poem.

Phenomenal Woman

Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.

I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size

But when I start to tell them,

They think I'm telling lies.

I say,

It's in the reach of my arms,

The span of my hips,

The stride of my step,

The curl of my lips.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

I walk into a room

Just as cool as you please,

And to a man,

The fellows stand or

Fall down on their knees.

Then they swarm around me,

A hive of honey bees.

I say,

It's the fire in my eyes,

And the flash of my teeth,

The swing in my waist,

And the joy in my feet.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Men themselves have wondered

What they see in me.

They try so much

But they can't touch

My inner mystery.

When I try to show them,

They say they still can't see.

I say,

It's in the arch of my back,

The sun of my smile, 

The ride of my breasts,

The grace of my style.

I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Now you understand

Just why my head's not bowed.

I don't shout or jump about

Or have to talk real loud.

When you see me passing,

It ought to make you proud.

I say,

It's in the click of my heels,

The bend of my hair,

The palm of my hand,

The need for my care.

'Cause I'm a woman

Phenomenally.

Phenomenal woman,

That's me.

Thank you.