This week’s Freebie Friday is a quote from American writer, poet and civil rights activist Maya Angelou. Her most famous work is almost certainly I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, her powerful and literate coming-of-age story that begins when she was sent to live with her grandmother at the age of 3 in rural Alabama and ends when she becomes a mother at the age of 16 in California. She was raped at the age of 8, her attacker spent only 1 day in jail, and he was murdered 4 days after his release (likely by Maya’s uncles). She then stayed mute for the next 5 years, believing that it was her telling of the truth that got him killed. Despite her troubled upbringing, she grew into a true Renaissance woman, working throughout her career as a polyglot writer, composer, singer, actor, dancer, journalist and educator. (Just to provide some indication of her amazing life and incredible persistence… she became the first black female cable car conductor in San Francisco, at the age of 16, in 1944, while pregnant. Even then it was already clear she was destined for a remarkable life…)
DownloadLove recognizes no barriers. It jumps hurdles, leaps fences, penetrates walls to arrive at its destination full of hope. — Maya Angelou