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Essay on Maya Angelou's Still I Rise
“Still I Rise” by Maya Angelou is directed towards blacks on how to be proud of their ancestry, themselves, and their overall appearance. The poem is a special and motivating poem that African-Americans (and other races for that matter) should read and take to heart. According to African-Americans, Maya Angelou states that no matter what white Americans (slave owners) say or do to African-Americans (slaves) they can still rise up to make a better life for themselves and their race as a whole.
The stereotypical view of African-American women as sex objects is explored through the historical roots of the slavery of African people by Europeans. Various other factors, including the Victorian method of evaluating people through "scientific classification" and the role of films in promulgating the view of black women as either sex objects or mammies, are cited. Culture is stressed as a major reason black women feel more at ease with their bodies, and therefore are more likely to express their feelings through bodily movement. Envy and fear on the part of whites are also raised as elements in the continuing stereotype.
One reason blacks should rise above their oppression is so they can better themselves and in turn make a better life for their next generation, just as their ancestors tried to do. “Bring the gifts that my ancestors gave, I am the dream and the hope of the slave” says Angelou is taking the lessons learned from their ancestors and dreaming and hoping to rise above slavery. They felt that if they rose above slavery, their children and grandchildren would not have to partake in torture and pain. White Americans had and still have a different perception of the previous quote and they feel that what their ancestors had given them will help them to fulfill their dreams and in doing so slaves would be needed............
