BADASS WOMEN IN HISTORY SERIES
Maya Angelou’s Wake Up Call
Exploration into the life of Maya Angelou, Part 5
Maya Angelou’s world would come crashing down yet again. The reminder that she was less for lack of whiteness came as a slap in the face.
Stroll for patterns
To say it was hot in Stamps Arkansas would have been an understatement. The sun’s rays beat down mercilessly, causing waves of heat to dance in the distance.
Any applied makeup would run down your face in pathetic rivulets. Cosmetic beauty was a fool’s errand. AC wasn’t a thing yet and only the rich could afford an automobile.
The three and a half mile walk Maya had to make into town to the white General Merchandise store might as well have been on the face of the sun. Her mind went back to her abandoned Oldsmobile at the train station up north.
Dressed in her San Fransisco best, she made her way down the road with her see-through vinyl-lite plastic high heel shoes threatening to melt off her feet as the heels dug into the loose gravel.
She finally made her way to white-town and the General Store on main street.
Lordy, to be out of this heat!
As she browsed the store shelves, she couldn’t help but notice that the mercantile store owned by her Gran offered a much wider variety of goods. She was met by a blonde haired shopkeeper whose countenance was one of surrender to the pitiful poverty-stricken existence of the rural south.
“Wut kin ah do fer yoo?’
Maya plastered on a smile and put in an order for a simplicity pattern and provided the catalog order number. She was informed that it was unavailable and would have to be ordered from a shop in Tex Arkana. It would be in by the end of the week.
As she left, the poorly stocked shelves assaulted her eyes as she made her way down the aisle.
Kissed by the sun
The days dragged on until Friday arrived. Maya was determined to get her pattern.
One more walk on the face of the sun, and it was absolutely blistering. Maya dressed in her shopping best, and once more headed out on her three and a half mile trek to the General store through the hellish heat. It was so bad she had to stop at a little cafe owned by a family friend to rest.
Once she made it to the store, she had an awkward encounter with a store clerk on the way to fabrics. They ended up face to face in a narrow aisle. You know that moment where two people are stuck in a place not knowing where to go, what to do, or who should make the first move?
Add to it the suffocating heat, and tempers begin to shorten. Long face clerk told her to stand still so she could pass. Maya didn’t feel like taking orders from a stranger just then, so she repeated the order right back at her. The clerk was taken aback and shocked to be talked back to by a black woman. Just then, Fabrics makes it over to see what all the fuss was about. The white girl demands that Maya give her name, where’s she from and “speak up!”
Put back in their place
Maya had had enough of this foolishness. All hell was about to break loose.
My name… is Miss Johnson. If you have any occasion to use my name, which I seriously doubt, I advise you to address me as Miss Johnson. For if I need to allude to your pitiful selves, I shall call you Miss Idiot and Miss Stupid, Miss Fool or whatever name a luckless fate has dumped upon you. And where I’m from is of no concern of yours, but rather where you’re going. I’ll slap you in the middle of next week if you open your mouths again. Now, take that filthy pattern and stick it you-know-where! -Maya Angelou “Gather together in my Name”
And with that, she stalked right between the two gob-smacked clerks and went home. Literally glowing with satisfaction, she floated home on a cloud of euphoria. She had the strength of the ancestors coursing through her veins.
She was a force to be reckoned with and she was taking no shit.
Back into focus
That was… until she made it back to Gran’s where she was met at the porch steps.
Gran just stood there motionless leaning forward a bit which alarmed Maya who ran up to her to ask what was wrong.
Mr. Coleman’s granddaughter, Miss June, just called from the General Merchandise Store. She said you was downtown showing off.
It was the principle of the thing, Momma-
Blam! Gran’s hand crashed into the side of Maya’s cheek and head. It was so quick; she never saw her raise her hand.
Here’s your principle, young miss.
Momma, it was a principle!
Blam! Second slap and then the backhand.
Here’s your principle.
She got slapped every time she said the word, principle. They just kept right on coming.
Eventually, Maya found herself on the ground in front of the porch. Her Gran screamed for her to get up as she yanked on her arm.
You think cuz you been to California these crazy people won’t kill you? You think them lunatic cracker boys won’t try to catch you in the road and violate you? You think because of your all-fired principles some of the men won’t feel like putting their white sheets on and riding over here to stir up trouble? You do, you’re wrong. Ain’t nothing to protect you and us except the good Lord and some miles. I packed you and the baby’s things, and Brother Wilson is coming to drive you to Louisville. -Gran “Gather together in my Name”
New and old beginnings
While on the train headed for San Francisco to live at her mother’s house, Maya seethed at the idea that white people had so much control over her life and were able to dictate her movements.
She began to understand why her grandmother had reacted the way that she had. She was trying to protect her babies the only way she knew how, but it still hurt all the same.
She got a job at a greasy spoon diner as a short order cook and her only respite was the record store across the street from the diner. She immersed herself in the blues and jazz and acquainted herself with names of musicians who were destined to be masters in their craft.
She and her mother would browse the classified ads to see what possibilities were out there.
After weeks of this torture, she decided that she would try out for the Army. She would get her college education through the service, and there were a variety of trades she could learn.
She was nineteen, a mother with a small child, and no direction or purpose.
Whatever was going to happen needed to happen fast.
Thank you for reading🌺
Further reading:
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Maya Angelou, 1969
Gather Together in my Name, Maya Angelou, 1974
More articles in this series about Maya Angelou
1. The Turmoil of Maya Angelou
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