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SPECIAL REPORT 'ROOTS' ANNIVERSARY

Q&A

Maya Angelou Takes a Look Back

Poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil rights activist, producer and director Dr. Maya Angelou brought to life the character Nyo Boto in "Roots." Thirty years later, she shares her thoughts on the experience and on the broad impact of "Roots" with TelevisionWeek's Beth Duggan.

TelevisionWeek: How did you get involved with "Roots"?

Maya Angelou: Alex Haley was a brother friend of mine, so I was very close with him during the writing of the book. When he talked to David Wolper, the producer, he mentioned that he thought I'd be good as Nyo Boto. So we talked and they offered me the role. And I accepted with the hope that I would be invited to direct one or two of those segments since I was with the American Film Association. They said yes, I would be considered.

I had directed two films for the American Film Institute. Once I was on the set, though, I realized I had no experience to direct those.… I had done a film in Sweden and taken a course in cinematography, but that didn't prepare me. So I got into it because I wanted to do the directing, but I was relieved when they didn't offer me anything.

TVWeek: What was it like working with Alex Haley?

Ms. Angelou: Well he was my friend. It was a great piece of research and writing that he did and so I was glad to be a part of it. And then there were so many friends on the set, like Cicely Tyson, who played my daughter--but I think we're the same age. (Laughs.) And other friends who were in that vast cast made it very fun.

TVWeek: What do you think the show taught its viewers?

Ms. Angelou: It informed some of the viewers that slavery did exist, and not that long ago. It was amazing the popularity, even in the bars. If the bartenders didn't have "Roots" on, then there were no people in the bar. So it was amazing that it captured the conscience of the country, for a little while. People tried to be nicer to each other, for a little while.

TVWeek: Why do you think it was so popular?

Ms. Angelou: Well, all human beings want to go home, whether they know it or not. Everybody needs to know where he or she came from, which is why Americans go to England and go to Ireland. Some go to Poland, people go [to] Germany and Asians go back to Asia. And Africans go to Africa. So it's a good thing to go back into history, because that's home too. And it's fascinating, in fact.

TVWeek: You spent most of your childhood with your grandmother. Did you use aspects of her personality as inspiration for Nyo Boto?

Ms. Angelou: Absolutely the same; I became her. The character was my grandmother--very kind, very strong, who spoke softly but had a huge voice. And whenever she spoke softer, you really trembled. The softer she spoke, the more you became apprehensive. She usually spoke just above a whisper, and when that went down… "Oops, what did I do?" She only raised her voice in church to sing. And she could really sing, too.

I made her kind, and she had no idea that when she sent her grandson out to get the makings of a drum, she'd be sending him into slavery. She had no idea, but he was sort of rambunctious and she said, "OK, this is what you have to do." And of course that set off the train of events that led to "Roots."

TVWeek: Critics have observed that the African American characters presented were not tailored to suit white audiences. How did the directors and writers achieve that?

Ms. Angelou: I think the directors did that, the directors and the writers, but I also think that the character of the actors themselves… when there's a chance to play a really great role and you know the role, then the actor brings as much to the character as does the writer and as does the director.… The scripts were good, but as those actors acted them out, the scripts became greater.

TVWeek: Did you have a grasp on how big "Roots" would be?

Ms. Angelou: I had no idea. Nobody had any idea that it was going to become the conscience of America--and its theatrical delight as well as its ethical conscience.

As it began to be shown and the people became so caught, almost addicted to it, you couldn't get people to do anything on the nights of the show until after it was broadcast.

TVWeek: Why does it still have such an impact 30 years later?

Ms. Angelou: The condition is still obtained, the condition of racism, sexism and ageism, all those ignorances are still obtained, they still are here. And so it's a very good lesson.

By Beth Duggan

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"The poem “Caged Bird,” an obvious echo of Angelou’s best-known autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, narrates the story of a free bird and a caged bird, the latter singing a song of freedom and survival that is the same song sung by Angelou in all of her works. The caged bird’s song is a protest, as are Angelou’s autobiographies, and it is also a song of hope, still another characteristic of Angelou’s self-portraits. Taken together, the ten volumes of prose and poetry are narrative dramas, portraits of a woman and her culture, songs of survival at all costs. In later years, Maya Angelou’s role as “rags-to-riches” survivor has been spiced with outspoken activism regarding the disadvantaged of any race. She is no longer a singing caged bird, but one who swoops and dives in her efforts toward opening the cages for the rest of humanity."-Smelstor, Marjorie and Mary Hanford Bruce.

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"The poem “Caged Bird,” an obvious echo of Angelou’s best-known autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, narrates the story of a free bird and a caged bird, the latter singing a song of freedom and survival that is the same song sung by Angelou in all of her works. The caged bird’s song is a protest, as are Angelou’s autobiographies, and it is also a song of hope, still another characteristic of Angelou’s self-portraits. Taken together, the ten volumes of prose and poetry are narrative dramas, portraits of a woman and her culture, songs of survival at all costs. In later years, Maya Angelou’s role as “rags-to-riches” survivor has been spiced with outspoken activism regarding the disadvantaged of any race. She is no longer a singing caged bird, but one who swoops and dives in her efforts toward opening the cages for the rest of humanity."-Smelstor, Marjorie and Mary Hanford Bruce.

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http://ezproxy.stchas.edu:2144/ehost/detail/detail?sid=02e81552-9946-4b0f-bd72-952201b91fe3%40sessionmgr4009&vid=0&hid=4101&bdata=JnNpdGU9ZWhvc3QtbGl2ZSZzY29wZT1zaXRl#AN=103331MSA10139830000012&db=mjh

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The most banned author in the U.S.

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Civil Rights Movement and Civil Rights Act

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Maya Angelou Receives 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom

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President Obama presents the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom to famed poet and author Maya Angelou on February 15, 2011.

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"Perhaps the most powerful poem in this collection is “ Caged Bird,” which inevitably brings Angelou's audience full circle with her best-knownautobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This poem tells the story of a free bird and a caged bird. The free bird floats leisurely on"trade winds soft through the sighing trees" and even "dares to claim the sky." He feeds on "fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn" andsoars to "name the sky his own." Unlike his unbound brother, the caged bird leads a life of confinement that sorely inhibits his need to fly andsing. Trapped by the unyielding bars of his cage, the bird can only lift his voice in protest against his imprisonment and the "grave of dreams"on which he perchesAlthough he sings of "things unknown," the bird's song of freedom is heard even as far as the "distant hill." His song is his protest, his onlyalternative to submission and entrapment. Angelou knows why the caged bird and all oppressed beings must sing."-Carol E. Neubauer

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"Perhaps the most powerful poem in this collection is “ Caged Bird,” which inevitably brings Angelou's audience full circle with her best-knownautobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This poem tells the story of a free bird and a caged bird. The free bird floats leisurely on"trade winds soft through the sighing trees" and even "dares to claim the sky." He feeds on "fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn" andsoars to "name the sky his own." Unlike his unbound brother, the caged bird leads a life of confinement that sorely inhibits his need to fly andsing. Trapped by the unyielding bars of his cage, the bird can only lift his voice in protest against his imprisonment and the "grave of dreams"on which he perchesAlthough he sings of "things unknown," the bird's song of freedom is heard even as far as the "distant hill." His song is his protest, his onlyalternative to submission and entrapment. Angelou knows why the caged bird and all oppressed beings must sing."-Carol E. Neubauer

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"Southern Women Writers: The New Generation."

Ed.

Tonette Bond Inge.

The University of Alabama Press,

1990.

p114-142.http://blackbirdlibrary.pbworks.com/w/file/fetch/64614716/Maya%20Angelou%20Shaker%20Criticism_Excerpt.pdf

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/arts-and-entertainment/wp/2014/05/28/the-1970-review-of-i-know-why-the-caged-bird-sings/?utm_term=.06223ed4f32b

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https://www.rentcafe.com/blog/rental-market/real-estate-news/st-louis-then-and-now-in-photos/

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http://www.pbs.org/newshour/rundown/photos-selma-alabama-now/

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Icon citation"Explore Birmingham Events, Birmingham Civil, and more!" Pinterest

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Wallpaper photo citation "A Quick Look At Maya Angelou's Life And Legacy",says.com,originally from Toledoblade.com