“We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. In fact, it may be necessary to encounter defeats, so we can know who the hell we are.” Maya Angelou’s powerful words introduce her personality and her work in the new American Masters documentary, Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.
John Hockenberry recently spoke with producers Rita Coburn-Whack and Bob Hercules on WNYC’s The Takeaway, discussing Maya Angelou’s experience as a Black woman living in the South as well as her enduring legacy. According to Coburn-Whack, Angelou’s ability to reinvent herself throughout the decades gives her work a depth and humanity that inspires generations.
“She got to see things that made her say things like ‘people are more alike than unalike.’ Her eyes were opened,” Coburn-Whack said, speaking of Angelou’s time working abroad. “She never gave up the hope that reconciliation, forgiveness, and what Dr. King called the beloved community, could become attainable. A lot of people live in the past, and I don’t think she lived in the past. She lived in her present.”