“I’m a Woman Phenomenally”: Black Women Empowerment in Selected Poems of Maya Angelou
Shokhan Mohammed Fatah
English Department, College of Education, Charmo University, Kurdistan Regional Government, Iraq.
Email: [email protected]
Published: May 15, 2023
Abstract
As an African-American female writer, Maya Angelou depicts the strength and power of black women and protests against the misconceptions and the prejudice of the white. Black women are perceived by the white to be less smart and attractive than the white. Although, Angelou resists the mistaken stereotypes regarding black women to be ugly and weak. In her poems, Angelou presents strong and confident black women who can stand for their rights and be, at least, as equal as to the white women. She is a great defender and supporter of women’s rights. The fact that she is a black woman makes the study deeper as her poems present an oppressed woman and a subjugated black person who disallows the inequalities and stands up for her rights. Thus, this paper, through a multiracial-feminist theory, attempts to scrutinize Angelou’s “Still I Rise” and “Phenomenal Woman” which reflect the empowerment of black women.
Keywords: Empowerment, Black women, Maya Angelou, Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise.
DOI: 10.23918/vesal2023v39