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S31E2: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise | Clip

Learn why Bill Clinton invited Maya Angelou to speak at his inauguration

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When Bill Clinton decided to have a poet read at his inauguration, he immediately knew it should be Maya Angelou.

Funding for Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise is provided by IDP Foundation, Ford Foundation/Just Films, National Endowment for the Arts, National Black Programming Consortium, Anne Ulnick, Michael Metelits, and Loida and Leslie Lewis.

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Major support for American Masters is provided by AARP. Additional funding is provided by the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, Rosalind P. Walter, The Philip and Janice Levin Foundation, Judith and Burton Resnick, Ellen and James S. Marcus, Vital Projects Fund, Lillian Goldman Programming Endowment, The Blanche & Irving Laurie Foundation, Cheryl and Philip Milstein Family, The André and Elizabeth Kertész Foundation, Michael & Helen Schaffer Foundation and public television viewers.

Features

Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- PBS Previews: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise PREVIEW: 2:00
PBS Previews: Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
A behind-the-scenes look at American Masters - Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Listen to Dr. Maya Angelou's take on creative writing CLIP: 0:49
Listen to Dr. Maya Angelou's take on creative writing
Dr. Maya Angelou describes the challenges she faced as a writer.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Louis Gossett Jr. shares a story about his great-grandmother CLIP: 0:32
Louis Gossett Jr. shares a story about his great-grandmother
Louis Gossett Jr. shares a story about his great-grandmother.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- See Behind the Scenes of Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise CLIP: 3:57
See Behind the Scenes of Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise
Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn-Whack share the inspiration and process behind their film.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Explore the friendship between Maya Angelou and Malcolm X CLIP: 2:04
Explore the friendship between Maya Angelou and Malcolm X
While Maya Angelou was living in Ghana, she met and began working with Malcolm X.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Maya Angelou's missed opportunity to work with Pearl Bailey CLIP: 1:26
Maya Angelou's missed opportunity to work with Pearl Bailey
Maya Angelou nearly had an opportunity early in her career to work with Pearl Bailey.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Hear how Maya Angelou met Tupac Shakur for the first time CLIP: 1:52
Hear how Maya Angelou met Tupac Shakur for the first time
Without realizing it, Maya Angelou met Tupac Shakur.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Go behind the scenes with John Singleton CLIP: 1:30
Go behind the scenes with John Singleton
John Singleton shares why he believes Dr. Angelou's story is so important.
Explore Dr. Maya Angelou’s Life through her books
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Learn why Maya Angelou signed with Porgy and Bess CLIP: 0:57
Learn why Maya Angelou signed with Porgy and Bess
Dr. Maya Angelou started her career singing and dancing in San Francisco.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- See Maya Angelou's early performances in the Bay Area CLIP: 0:59
See Maya Angelou's early performances in the Bay Area
Maya Angelou transitioned from dancing to singing early in her career.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Behind the Scenes: Common, Rita Coburn-Whack & Maya Angelou CLIP: 1:37
Behind the Scenes: Common, Rita Coburn-Whack & Maya Angelou
Rita Coburn-Whack originally introduced Maya Angelou and Common.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Maya Angelou On Teaching CLIP: 2:13
Maya Angelou On Teaching
Maya Angelou speaks about her work as a teacher and what she shares with her students.
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Maya Angelou & James Baldwin CLIP: 1:30
Maya Angelou & James Baldwin
“Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise” Film Excerpt: Maya Angelou & James Baldwin
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise -- Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise - Trailer PREVIEW: 2:38
Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise - Trailer
Maya Angelou gave people the freedom to think about their history in a way they never had.
Norman Lear and Maya Angelou collage
Sundance Festival Announces Documentary Line-up, Including American Masters films
Premieres include American Masters films on Norman Lear and Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou: “Still I Rise”
On the occasion of Maya Angelou's memorial, the makers of American Masters: Maya Angelou (w.t.)...
Maya Angelou
In Memoriam: Maya Angelou
At the time of Maya Angelou’s death, she was participating in the first feature documentary...
TRANSCRIPT

I was asked would I consider writing a poem for President Clinton's innauguration, and I said yes. And then I started to pray and ask everybody - little children - what do you think? I wanted a poem.

Nobody had done a poem since Robert Frost. Once I made the decision I didn't really think about anybody else.

Maya Angelou had spent a lot of her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas, which is about 25 miles from Hope, where I was born. My grandfather had a little grocery store in a predominantly African-American neighborhood. When I read 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' I knew exactly who she was talking about and what she was talking about in that book.

That's a contradiction in terms: public poem. Poem is private and interior and all that and people as soon as the statement was made to the press, people would see me in the supermarket or on planes and say, 'How's the poem going?'

Finish that poem yet?

Exactly. I knew she got me, she understood the time we were living in. She understood the world we're living in and she knew what could be our undoing as well as our unchaining. Now we had no idea what she was going to say, and Bill didn't come with any set of directions like, 'well I'd like you to talk about this, and I'd like you to talk about that.' He just said I want you to write a poem and deliver it at my inauguration. But I knew she'd make an impression - she was big and she had the voice of God. A rock, a river, a tree: hosts to species long since departed marked the mastodon. And the minute she started talking you could just feel the change rolling across the crowd and everybody started listening.