第186期:被載入美國曆史的女性 Maya Angelou
今天分享的是美國最有影響力的非裔美國女性的故事.
One of the most influential African-American women to live in the United States was the great Maya Angelou. She was an accomplished author, poet, and entertainer, who had a major impact on modern American culture. She was considered an international, renaissance woman for her life work that included civil rights activism. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. She experienced racial discrimination during her early years, but leaned on her upbringing and culture to get her through the dark times of her life.
生活在美國最有影響力的非裔美國女性當屬偉大的瑪雅·安吉羅。她是一位有成就的作家、詩人和演員，對現代美國文化產生了重大影響。由於她畢生的工作以及民權運動，她被認爲是一個國際性的文藝復興女性。Angelou於1928年4月4日出生在密蘇里的聖路易斯。她早年就經歷過種族歧視，但憑藉着自己的教養和文化，她度過了人生的黑暗時期。
She first became interested in the arts as a teenager. She won a dance and drama scholarship at San Francisco's Labor School. However, at the age of 14, she dropped out of the school, and took a job as the city's first African-American female cable car operator. She had a child at an early age, and supported her son by working as a waitress, and cook, but her love of the arts soon consumed her.
她十幾歲時開始對藝術感興趣。她在三藩勞動學校獲得舞蹈和戲劇獎學金。然而，在她14歲的時候，她輟學了，併成爲了該市第一位美國非裔女纜車接線員。她小小年紀，就有一個孩子，靠做服務員和做飯來撫養兒子，但她對藝術的熱愛很快就讓她沉浸其中了。
During the mid-1950s, Angelou was involved in several theatrical performances, which prompted her move to New York City in 1958. In New York, she became an accomplished writer, but circumstances surrounding blacks in the next decade changed her focus. She began working tirelessly for the civil rights movement. The assassination of civil rights leader, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., on her birthday affected her deeply. After King's death, Angelou began concentrating on writing her life story. Her first autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings received critical acclaim. It chronicled her early years growing up as black in a predominantly white American culture. In all, Angelou wrote seven autobiographies, and her work is considered an integral part of American culture.
在20世紀50年代中期，Angelou參與了一些文藝演出，這促使她1958年搬到紐約。在紐約，她成爲了一個有成就的作家，但在接下來的十年裏，周圍黑人的境遇改變了她的生活重心。她開始爲民權運動不知疲倦地工作。在她生日那天，民權運動領袖馬丁.路德.金遇刺，深深地影響了她。金死後，Angelou開始專心寫自己的人生經歷。她的第一部自傳，《我知道爲什麼籠子裏的鳥兒歌唱》受到好評。記錄了她這個黑人早年在以白人爲主的美國文化的成長經歷。Angelou一共寫了七部自傳，她的作品被認爲是美國文化的一個不可或缺的一部分。
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