Maya Angelou

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Maya Angelou was one of America’s greatest writers in history. She was known for her many writings and for her part in Civil Rights Movements. Maya Angelou went through many hardships during her childhood, the most prevalent of those, racism over her skin color. This racism affected where she grew up, where she went to school, even where she got a job. “My education and that of my Black associates were quite different from the education of our white schoolmates. In the classroom we all learned past participles, but in the streets and in our homes the Blacks learned to drops s’s from plurals and suffixes from past tense verbs.” (Angelou 221) Maya Angelou was a strong believer in a good education and many of those beliefs were described in her …show more content…

Most of the books she read were by other famous authors such as William Shakespeare, Poe, and Kipling to name a few. Maya Angelou started teaching when she could not learn anymore, she served as the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. She wanted everyone to have the opportunity to learn and gain knowledge as she did. Her brother stated and she agreed with the fact, “all knowledge is spendable currency, depending on the market.” (Angelou 212). Maya Angelou was an amazing student and …show more content…

From movies and everyday jobs, to life experiences and the classroom,knowledge can be gained. For instance in the movie, The Hunger Games: Catching Fire, Finnick says, “I haven’t dealt in anything as common as money in years.” Katniss then asks, “Well then how do people pay for the pleasure of your company?” Finnick responds, “With secrets.” (Francis Lawrence The Hunger Games: Catching Fire) Even in everyday jobs, people trade knowledge for a service. Everyone uses knowledge to gain something from undercover agents being informants to an attorney offering reduced sentences or lesser charges to someone under suspicion of a crime. Getting an education to gain knowledge and learning how to best use that knowledge can be the best weapon to go down any road in this

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