Maya at Elon University, 2012, Elon Universtiy via Flickr
Maya Angelou was a writer, poet, memoirist, civil rights activist, entertainer, director, producer, mom, friend…but she was most masterful at sharing her life with the perfect collections of words. We use the best ones we can muster to share her remarkable life story.
We wrap up our three-part series on Dr. Angelou beginning as Maya leaves Africa to headed back to the US and work for civil rights leader, and friend, Malcolm X ‘s Organization of African American Unity. His assassination not long after her arrival sent her into both grief and a search for the next chapter in her life.
Writing. She felt led to be a writer, and the best place for that was back with her literary friends in New York. While there, she took an opportunity to work with her old friend, Martin Luther King, Jr…who was assassinated right before her first day.
But setbacks in life often lead to the perfect path. She threw herself into writing a 10-part PBS series, Blacks, Blues, Black! which lead, in 1969, the publication of her first autobiography, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings.
For the rest of her (long) life, she combined all of her life experiences, her gifts, her skills, and her wisdom and shared it with the world. She was a memoirist, a poet, a playwright, a songwriter, a performer, a lecturer, an educator…a grandmother…she loved and lost, and all along the way she captured her words in the perfect order projected by her strong personality (and often her unique voice) to leave her mark on our world.
1993 Clinton inauguration Courtesy Clinton Presidential LibraryPresident Obama bestowing the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2010 Courtesy White House
Maya Angelou died on May 28th, 2014 at the age of 86. No one can tell her story like she did, so we’ll leave you with Maya herself sharing a little of her words and wisdom.
Time Travel With The History Chicks
Books!
Not technically a book, but Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies from BBC is a six-part, audio dramatization of some of her work. Susan got it for one credit on Audible and had an amazing experience. You can learn more at THIS LINK TO BBC.
You can read every one of her perfectly chosen words in this massive tome:
Not technically a book, but Maya Angelou: The Autobiographies from BBC is a six-part, audio dramatization of some of her work. Susan got it for one credit on Audible and had an amazing experience. You can learn more at THIS LINK TO BBC
The only detailed biography Susan could find but written before her death by Marcia Anne Gillespie, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long; foreword by Oprah WinfreyMaya’s essays about memorable food in her life and the recipes- delightful! (And her fried chicken recipe is in here!)More autobiographical essays with recipes for international dishes all based around her weight loss through portion control.By Editors of Essence Magazine, essays about her.Great series for kids, by Ellen LaBrecque
Web!
Here is a whole lot of information (and pictures) about the Rosenwald Schools like the one a young Maya Johnson attended: The Rosenwald Schools.
An article on the Quote Investigator site discussing the phrase “Churchillian Drift” coined by radio host, Nigel Rees of the BBC show Quote Unquote (so QI is fact-checking something the OG quote fact-checker said.)
There is a Maya Barbie…do we know what to think about this?
Her estate maintains a website, there is some information, pictures, and a link to the Dr. Maya Angelou Foundation if you would like to get involved in her life’s work.
Some information (read: the opening of the hole Beckett fell down) the Hawaiian Jazz scene.
“Summertime” from Porgy and Bess, Metropolitan Opera:
This makes sense if you listened to the episode, but we simply can not leave it out!
Caged Bird Songs, Maya’s own words with a beat, it may be an acquired taste.
Moving Pictures!
Maya’s first adventure in television occurred in 1968 when she wrote, produced, and hosted a 10-part PBS series Blacks, Blues, Black! The whole series is online HERE!
If you would like to learn about the incredible discovery that made our viewing (here in the future) possible, here’s an article about it: From The Archive
There are so very many interviews with her, if you start with this one, with her dear friend, Oprah, YouTube will connect you with maaaaany more.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xGlE1fAU1dI
PBS has an American experience about Dr. Angelou, it’s streaming on Prime through the PBS Documentaries subscription, but you may be able to find it elsewhere, here’s more information about that Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise.
And, finally, we want you to listen to Maya read and speak her own words, she left so many treasures for us.
We’re going to be in London in August and would love for you to join us for a Thames River Dinner cruise on August 7th, 2021! Get more info and sign-up here at Like Minds Travel
The first break song was A Fork Where a Fork Don’t Fit by James Harper, the second was Sonata Pathétique in C minor by Mario Ajero
End music: Press On by Loot
music used with permission by both iLicenseMusic and James Harper
We’re firing The Recappery back up to recap the latest season of Netflix’s, The Crown. The actors have all “aged up”…although the timeline is mere months after we left them over a year and a half ago. You know what? A healthy dose of Suspension of Disbelief will serve us all well. Besides, we adjusted to the new cast very easily and, of course, we have something to say about that.
In this episode, Queen Elizabeth suffers the loss of her friend, Winston Churchill, and deals with the anti-monarchy sentiments and possible KGB ties of her new Prime Minister. We all also get some art lessons, which is kinda cool.
Like all of our historical fiction media recaps, we cover the plot, characters, story arcs, plot holes, costuming…the whole shebang, plus we compare and contrast to real history tossing little bouquets of trivia as we go.
Bits and Pieces
For more information on the jewels of The Crown, visit The Court Jeweller
Whatever was Tony tinkering with in his workshop? The Snowdon Aviary which seems to have gotten spruced up a couple of years ago.
Here is A version of Winston Churchill’s funeral, a BBC documentary about it. There are shorter new reels on YouTube as well.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UOKUbcJ_poY
We really hesitate to link you to the four-part miniseries on the Cambridge Spies, but search CAMBRIDGE SPIES BBC on YouTube. If you find a more legit looking version, please let us know!
For background prep for the rest of the season, you can learn about Queen Elizabeth I and Wallis Simpson in these linked episodes of The History Chicks, our main show.
Consuelo Vanderbilt, the Duchess of Marlboro, one of the women we cover in this episode.
As we got excited about the upcoming Downton Abbey movie, we thought back to the Gilded Age heiresses who inspired both the original TV show AND our podcast. Julian Fellowes and Beckett Graham both read the same book which prompted each to pursue projects based on it. Mr. Fellowes* created Downton Abbey and Mrs. Graham thought, “I should make a women’s history podcast!”
This episode takes place during Phillip’s five month long, 1956 time out Goodwill Tour that includes the opening of the 1956 Olympics in Australia. Not unrelated to that tour, Eileen Parker DIYs the investigation into her husband, Mike’s, affairs so she can get a divorce and just because he’s a hot mess at this point in time, Anthony Eden deals with his pharmaceutical demons.
As the title screams, there are a lot of men in this episode:
-All those Navy guys on-board the Britannia
-Phillip and his wingman/personal secretary/BFF Mike Parker
-Prime Minister Anthony Eden and his job-affecting addictions and eagerness to run away while other men clean-up the mess from his Suez Canal blunder
This is the REAL Anthony Eden. Wikicommons
-The threesome of Eileen Parker’s divorce attorney and two of the Queen’s personal secretaries- Michael Adeane and Martin Charteris-who try to keep that divorce as far away from the Royal family as possible.
-Bonus men: Dickie Mountbatten and a fisherman whose story arc lets Phillip realize that there’s no place like home.
But the women have power in this episode:
-A new character, Cake Waitress, has the power help another woman out of a rotten situation, keep her own job and stick it to the tush-smackers.
This is a lovely dress on Cake Waitress (Lily! Her name is Lily!)
-Eileen Parker has the power to take control of her own damn life despite the “put on something pretty” advice from her loose-lipped lawyer (solicitor…but we’re American so…)
-Helen King, an Australian reporter who has a different definition of “interview” than the Duke does, has the power to make him relive a past he wanted to keep buried.
Phillip’s childhood was far from a cushy, royal upbringing.
-The Queen who has the power to see right through her PMs’s cut-and-run plan, and to create a platform that allowed her and Phillip to communicate even though he was on the underside of world.
Margaret and the Queen Mum have the power to make mulled wine appear. We would like that power. Very much.
You can visit the Britannia! If you do and reenact any scenes from The Crown, get us photo or video evidence and we’ll…we don’t know but it will be cool. For more about the ship that flies the flags of two countries, USS Winston S. Churchill
There is more on Phillip’s story later this season, but if you want to spoil that a bit, here’s some reading to get you started: Phillip’s very sad and tragic youth
She walked SIX FEET and took her bag…what is in that thing!?
We didn’t mention this, but we will direct you in future episodes—this site, Tom and Lorenzo, recap the CLOTHES of each episode. They did it last season as well, and it’s brilliant.
We’ll leave you staring at the sea with Phillip although you’re probably not dressed in such a dashing sweater.
Photo credit: Netflix; Stills: The History Chicks via Netflix
When we left Wallis in 1936, her boyfriend just got a major promotion that would, more than likely, leave her in the rear view mirror of his life. She was cool with that, but he had a whole different vision: Wallis in the passenger seat.
While on a cruise of the Dalmatian coast they were photographed…a lot.
