Google
gathered a star-studded cast of celebrities, including Alicia Keys, Laverne
Cox, and Oprah Winfrey, to help celebrate Dr. Maya Angelou.
Today's
Doodle honoring the poet, civil rights activist, and author on what would have
been her 90th birthday is nothing short of a masterpiece. When you click the
homepage illustration, you'll hear the words of Angelou's empowering poem
"Still I Rise" read aloud as drawings illustrating each line fill the
screen. The recorded reading from Angelou is interspersed with sections read by
Keys, Cox, Winfrey, America Ferrera, Martina McBride, and Angelou's son, Guy
Johnson.
“Maya
Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it's how she did it
all," Winfrey told Google. “She moved through the world with unshakeable
calm, confidence, and a fiery, fierce grace and abounding love.”
Angelou was
born as Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri in 1928. At seven years
old, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend and, following the incident, was
mute for six years. According to the National Women's History Museum, it was
during this time and throughout her teenage years that Angelou began writing
essays and poetry. At 15, she repeatedly applied to become a street car
conductor, but was initially rebuffed because of her race. Her persistence paid
off and she eventually became the first African American to hold the role in
San Francisco.
Among
Angelou's numerous awards were the National Medal of Arts and the Presidential
Medal of Freedom, which former President Barack Obama awarded her in 2010.
Angelou died four years later at the age of 86.
Like many
of Angelou's enduring works, "Still I Rise", a poem about resilience
and strength, still feels potent in 2018: "You may shoot me with your
words/You may cut me with your eyes/You may kill me with your hatefulness/But
still, like air, I’ll rise."
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