Maya Angelou (38 page)

Cabaret for Freedom,
1
,
8
,
32
,
48
,
118

“California Prodigal” (poem),
19

Cambridge, Godfrey.
See
Cabaret for Freedom

Carson, Dr. Ben,
48

Churchill, Winston,
61

Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra,
177–78

Circularity,
164

Cleaver, Eldridge,
46
,
81
,
168

Clidell, Daddy (Angelou's step-father),
16
,
62
,
86
,
88

Clifton, Lucille,
21
,
24

Clinton, Hillary,
21
,
178

Clinton, William (U.S. president),
5
,
20
,
43
,
153
,
177
,
178

College Language Association Journal
,
20
,
179

Commemorative postage stamp,
36

Cultural Association for Women of African Heritage (CAWAH),
77
,
132

Dark Continent,
154–55

Davis, Angela,
47

Demeter-Persephone myth,
96

Dialectical method,
103

Dickinson, Emily,
17

Douglass, Frederick,
41
,
52
,
53–54
,
55

Du Bois, W.E.B.,
9
,
47
,
145–46
,
147
,
157

Du Feu, Paul (Angelou's third husband),
11
,
13–14

Dunbar, Paul Lawrence,
41
,
73
,
113
,
133
,
151
,
178

Echoes of a Distant Summer
(Guy Johnson),
13

Eliot, George,
39
,
47

Equiano, Olaudah,
53
,
54–55
,
157

Even the Stars Look Lonesome
,
11
,
21
,
22
,
24–25

Fauset, Jessie,
16
,
17

Feminism,
76–79
,
135

Flowers, Bertha (Mrs.),
16
,
64
,
69
,
79

Franklin, Benjamin,
60
,
118

Freeman, Mr. (rapist).
See
Rape, theme of

Friedan, Betty,
98
,
172

Frost, Robert,
20

Gates, Henry Louis Jr.,
48
,
53
,
156–57

Gather Together in My Name
: alternative reading (womanist),
96–98
; character development,
85–89
; compared to
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
,
81–83
,
86
,
87
; employment in,
7
,
80
,
93–94
; fragmentation,
83
,
84
,
86–88
; lesbianism,
87
; narrative point of view,
81–83
; plot development,
84–85
; structure,
83–84
; style and literary devices,
94–96
; thematic issues,
90–94
; title of,
82–84
; and truth,
82–83

Gender,
104–05

Genre.
See
Autobiography

Ghana,
151
,
156
,
158
,
161–63
,
166
; Angelou's ambivalence toward,
155
; Angelou's departure from,
137
,
150–51
,
169–70
; Angelou's search for roots,
155–59
; and Pan-African Movement,
142
; and setting in
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
,
139
,
145–46
; and slavery,
155
; University of,
9
,
142
,
150
,
165

Giovanni, Nikki,
46
,
86
,
178

Golden, Marita,
50–51

Graham, Shirley (wife of Du Bois),
146
,
148

Great Food All Day Long
(cookbook),
30–31

Guy, Rosa,
10
,
132
,
167–68

Hallelujah! The Welcome Table
(cookbook),
30

Hamer, Fanny Lou,
26

Hampton, Lionel,
112

Hansberry, Lorraine,
73

Harlem,
114
,
161
,
172

Harper, Frances,
15
,
16

Hawaii,
103
,
108
,
116
,
164

Heart of a Woman
: character development,
120–28
; narrative point of view,
117–19
; plot development,
120
; setting,
128–29
; structure,
119–20
; style and literary devices,
131–36
; thematic issues,
131
; title of,
133–34

Hellman, Lillian,
42–43

Henderson, Annie (paternal grandmother and major character),
5
,
6
,
7
,
25
,
26–27
; in
Gather Together in My Name
,
84
,
87–88
; in
Hallelujah: The Welcome Table
,
30
; in
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,
65–68
; in
Letter to My Daughter,
26–27
; in
Singin' and Swingin' and Getting' Merry Like Christmas
,
101
,
106–7

Henderson, William (Uncle Willie),
2
,
66–68

Hitler, Adolf,
152

Holiday, Billie,
1
,
132
,
134–35

hooks, bell,
46

Hughes, Langston,
49–50
,
138

Hurston, Zora Neale,
41
,
110
,
161
;
Dust Tracks on a Road
,
45
,
61
,
86
; and the spiritual,
56–57
;
Their Eyes Were Watching God
,
156
,
157
,
158–59
; and use of metaphor,
158–59

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
: alternative reading (feminist),
76–79
; censorship of,
76–77
; character development,
64–71
; compared to
Gather Together in My Name,
81
,
83
,
86
,
87
; film version,
66–67
,
71
; gender,
69–70
; and links with
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
,
164
,
168
,
172
,
178
; literary style,
72
,
74–75
; narrative point of view,
60–61
; plot development,
63–64
; racism,
70
; setting,
71–72
; and slave narrative,
55–56
; structure,
62–63
; thematic issues,
72–75
; title of,
73–74
; white characters in,
70–71

Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl. See
Brent, Linda

Jackson, George,
47

Jacobs, Harriet.
See
Brent, Linda

Jazz,
1
,
84
,
93
,
112
,
144

Johnson, Bailey Jr. (Maya's brother and a major character),
5
,
11
,
27
,
28
,
84
,
85
,
88
,
91
; death of,
11
; in
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
,
59
,
61
,
63
,
65
,
67–8
,
72
; in
A Song Flung Up from Heaven
,
164–65
,
170

Johnson, Bailey Sr. (Maya's father),
5
,
6
,
67
,
68
,
72

Johnson, Georgia Douglas,
15
,
17
,
40
,
133

Johnson, Guy (Maya's son and a major character),
9
,
11–13
,
16
; birth of,
6
; car accidents,
116
,
135
,
137–39
,
145
,
149
,
158
,
164
–
65
,
178
; and childhood,
88
,
90–91
,
95
; and death of Maya Angelou.
177
,
178
; and health,
13
,
103
; and independence,
153–54
; as novelist,
12–13
; as student at University of Ghana,
150
,
165

Johnson, James Weldon,
39
,
40
,
47
,
61

Johnson, Rose,
2

Journey,
25
,
50
,
138
,
160
: and change,
101–02
; and fragmentation,
83–84
; and narrative line,
62
; and self-discovery,
55–56
,
143
; and slave narrative,
51–56
,
61
,
112
,
157–58

Life Doesn't Frighten Me
(children's book),
29–30

Kerouac, Jack,
119
,
134

Kincaid, Jamaica,
60

King, Coretta Scott,
26

King, Martin Luther Jr.,
9
,
32
,
40
,
48
,
116
,
118
,
180
; assassination of,
1
,
2
,
160–61
; march on Washington (1963),
146
; and passive resistance,
146–47

Kojo (African houseboy),
148
,
154

Lesbianism: and Beatrice and Johnnie Mae,
87–88
,
94
; and Billie Holiday,
132
,
135
; and fear of,
73

Lessing, Doris,
42

Loomis, Robert,
160

Make, Vusumzi (“Vus,” Angelou's second husband),
8
,
9
,
24–27
,
134–35
,
150
,
166
,
169

Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz),
9
,
10
,
40
; Angelou's allegiance to,
147–48
,
169
,
180
; assassination of,
1
,
3
,
160
,
170
,
173
,
179
; protest strategy,
125
; trip to Ghana,
132–33
; and vignette,
132–33

Marshall, Paule,
56

Martin, Troubador (lover),
80–81
,
89
,
95–96
,
112

Mayfield, Julian,
10
,
145
,
149

McBride, James:
The Color of Water
,
55
;
The Good Lord Bird,
54–55
,
57–58
,
60

McKay, Claude,
4
,
75

McPherson, Dolly A.: as character in
A Song Flung Up to Heaven
,
157
,
160
,
161
,
166–67
,
168
,
170
,
172
; as literary critic,
2
,
10
,
11
,
12
,
43
,
70
,
84
,
86
,
108
,
119
,
151

McQueen, Steve (director),
12 Years a Slave
,
44

Mid-passage,
159

Millay, Edna St. Vincent,
17

Miss Calypso
(recording),
179

Mom & Me & Mom
,
27–29
.
See
Baxter, Vivian

Monroe, Marilyn,
135

Moody, Anne,
45–46
,
81

Morrison, Toni,
56
,
178

Musings:
Even the Stars Look Lonesome,
24–25
,
26
;
Letter to My Daughter,
26–27
;
Mom & Me & Mom
,
27–29
; “My Grandson Home at Last,”
22
;
Rainbow in the Cloud
,
29
;
Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
,
22–24

Nketsia, Nana (African leader): in
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
,
150
,
151
,
154
; in
A Song Flung Up to Heaven,
160
,
166–67

Nkrumah, Kwame (president of Ghana),
150
,
151
,
169

Noah (Old Testament),
163
,
170–71

Northrup, Solomon (author),
12 Years a Slave,
54

Obama, Barack (U.S. president),
34

Obama, Michelle,
177
,
178

The Odyssey
,
51
,
95

Oedipus complex,
135
,
136

“On the Pulse of Morning” (poem),
19–21
,
176

Owens, Jesse,
152

Parker, Dorothy,
17

Persona
,
18–19

“Phenomenal Woman” (poem),
18–19

Poetry: and the blues,
18
; censorship of,
76
; and influences on,
16–17
; and oral performances of,
21–22
; and song,
16
; and topics in,
18
; and the use of a
persona
,
18
.
See also
“California Prodigal,”
“On the Pulse of Morning,”
“Phenomenal Woman,”
“Still I Rise,”
“When Great Trees Fall”

Porgy and Bess
(musical),
8
,
24
,
59
,
102–5
,
108
,
115

Purple Onion (cabaret),
108
,
115