HR1172 98TH GENERAL ASSEMBLY

HR1172 LRB098 21593 MST 60334 r

HOUSE RESOLUTION

WHEREAS, State Representative Monique D. Davis and the Illinois House of Representatives are saddened to learn of the death of renowned poet Maya Angelou, who passed away on May 28, 2014; and

WHEREAS, Marguerite Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928 and raised in St. Louis and Stamps, Arkansas; at age 13, she and her brother rejoined their mother in San Francisco; she attended Mission High School and won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor School, where she was exposed to the progressive ideals that animated her later political activism; she dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor; she later returned to high school, but became pregnant in her senior year, graduating a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy; she left home at 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, performance, and poetry; in 1952, she began her career as a nightclub singer, and took the professional name, Maya Angelou; and

WHEREAS, Maya Angelou's performing career flourished; she toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess in 1954 and 1955, studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey on television variety shows, and recorded her first record album, Calypso Lady; and

WHEREAS, Maya Angelou had composed song lyrics and poems for many years, and by the end of the 1950s was increasingly interested in developing her skills as a writer; she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and took her place among the growing number of young black writers and artists associated with the Civil Rights Movement; she acted in the historic Off-Broadway production of Jean Genet's The Blacks and wrote and performed a Cabaret for Freedom with the actor and comedian Godfrey Cambridge; and

WHEREAS, In 1960, May Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt and served as editor of the English language weekly, The Arab Observer; she and Guy later moved to Ghana, where she joined a thriving group of African American expatriates; she served as an instructor and assistant administrator at the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as feature editor for The African Review, and wrote for The Ghanaian Times and the Ghanaian Broadcasting Company; during her years abroad, she read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and the West African language Fanti; she met with the American dissident leader Malcolm X in his visits to Ghana, and corresponded with him as his thinking evolved from the racially polarized thinking of his youth to the more inclusive vision of his maturity; and

WHEREAS, Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity; shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new organization died with him; she involved herself in television production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who requested that she serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference; his assassination left her devastated, but she found solace in writing, and began work on the book that would become "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", which tells the story of her life from her childhood in Arkansas to the birth of her child; it was published in 1970 to widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success; and

WHEREAS, Seemingly overnight, Maya Angelou became a national figure; in the following years, books of her verse and the subsequent volumes of her autobiographical narrative won her a huge international audience; she was increasingly in demand as a teacher and lecturer and continued to explore dramatic forms as well; she wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the film Georgia, Georgia (1972); her screenplay, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize; and

WHEREAS, Maya Angelou has been invited by successive Presidents of the United States to serve in various capacities; President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year of the Woman; President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993; her reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world; and

WHEREAS, Since 1981, Maya Angelou has served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina; she continued to appear on television and in films including Poetic Justice (1993) and the landmark television adaptation of Roots (1977) and she has directed numerous dramatic and documentary programs on television and her first feature film, Down in the Delta, in 1996; the list of her published works now includes more than 30 titles; and

WHEREAS, In 2000, Maya Angelou was honored with the Presidential Medal of the Arts and she received the Ford's Theatre Lincoln Medal in 2008; also in 2008, she narrated the award-winning documentary film The Black Candle and published a book of guidance for young women, Letter to My Daughter; in 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom; therefore, be it

RESOLVED, BY THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES OF THE NINETY-EIGHTH GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF ILLINOIS, that we mourn the passing of Maya Angelou, a celebrated poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist, and extend our sincere condolences to her family, friends, and all who knew and loved her; and be it further

RESOLVED, That a suitable copy of this resolution be presented to the family of Maya Angelou as an expression of our deepest sympathy.