Maya Angelou's Autobiography (All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes - Maya Angelou)

Member Name: chang2

Product:	All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes - Maya Angelou
Date:	26/07/06 (624 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Wonderful prose, inspiring life story

Disadvantages: none

This is part of a series of autobiographical works written by Maya Angelou. Angelou is a poet, writer, singer and activist - amongst her many achievements - and spoke at the inuguration ceremony of President Clinton in in the US.

It is set in Ghana, beginning in 1968, where Angelou arrives from the States. Almost immediately her 19 year old son Guy is hospitalised after a serious car accident and suddently her life plans are in dissarray.

Angelou had travelled to Africa to search for an alternative to the opression of the US, and to discover her roots. President Kwame Nkrumah was the first leader after Independence, and Malcolm X visited the country after his journey to the hadj in 1962. Angelou has worked as a civil rights activist and recounts some of the conversations and arguments she had at the time, for example contrasting the Black experience in USA v Africa.

She finds employment at the Institute of African Studies in Accra, but finds that she is more American than African, and has some trouble adapting to her new way of life. She often talks of the Diaspora - the experience of moving continents, being displaced into a different culture.

It is very funny in places, and as a world renowned poet, Angelou has one of the best voices in print. One of the most moving parts of the account is when she takes a trip to Dunkwa on the Cape Coast, and stays overnight with a family of total strangers. She realises that they have the same customs and hospitality that she learnt from her own mother in the Deep South.

Overall, the style is quite light, and although it was written many years ago, I found it still relevant and thoroughly enjoyed reading it.

Summary: Ghana in 1968 : Angelou recounts her life story.