Dr. Maya Angelou (personality theory) Essay

Dr. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her father, Baily Johnson, was a doorman, and, later a dietician for the navy. Her mother, Vivian Johnson, was a registered nurse. When Angelou was three years old, her pargonnts were divorced. They sent her and her four-year-old brother, Baily, Jr., to alive(p) with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas. Henderson ran a small general store and managed to scrape by. She continued to do so after her grand electric razorren joined her.Angelous grandmother was champion the numerous strong who trained her, helped her, and provided her with role models. The people of her church too nurtured her and gave her a sense of belonging to a community. But her child hood in the south was a nightm atomic number 18. In 1982, Maya Angelou told Ebony Magazine about Stamps. She utter When I was taken to California by my grandmother, I vowed never to return to the grim, abase south. Exc ept for a tentative trip to visit when I was eighteen, I didnt break my promise until I was forty years old.When she was seven and a half, Angelou left Stamps to visit with her mother. While thither, she was assault by her mothers boyfriend. He was tried, found guilty, and kicked to death in prison. The confused little girl tangle responsible for his death and withdrew into herself. I was mute for five years, I wasnt cute and didnt speak. I thought he was killed because I spoke his get word that was the only logic I was able to employ. So I thought if I spoke, anybody might die. In frustration, her mother sent her back to Stamps. Her emotional separation caused many to think of her as backward, but her grandmother did not give up on her. My grandmother told me all the time, Sister, Mama dont criminal maintenance what these people say about you being a moron, being a idiot. Mama dont care. Mama know, Sister, when you and the good Lord get ready, youre gonna be a preacher. Angelo u was also helped by a woman named Bertha Flowers, who introduced her to literature.By the time of her graduation from eighth grade, she was at the head of her class. While attending uplifted school, she took drama and dance lessons. She then decided that she wanted to be a streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Although San Francisco had never had a Black conductor and was not eager to hire one, she persisted and, with her mothers support managed to attain her goal. At sixteen Angelou gave birth to her son, Guy. She did not plan herpregnancy but has always been acceptable that it happened. The greatest gift Ive ever had was the birth of my son. Because when he was small, I knew more than he did, I expected to be his teacher. So because of him, I meliorate myself. He began to ask questions I didnt have the answers to, so I started my invigorationlong love affair with libraries . . . Ive learned an awful lot because of him. Still, her life at this time was not easy. In addition to teaching her son, she also had to support him. She was a cook and a nightclub waitress and, for a concise time, madam for two lesbian prostitutes. She began doing drugs but then quit after seeing what they had done to her brother. When she was twenty-two, Angelou married Tosh Angelos, a white former sailor. devil years later she left him and became a professional dancer. She then moved to New York to pursue a career and study with Pearl Primus. In 1954, she was bowl in a production of Porgy and Bess that toured Europe and Africa. When she came back to the United States, in 1960-61, she was northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). In 1961 she also appeared in an acclaimed off-Broadway production of the Blacks, by Jean Genet. The show was highly successful and ran until 1964.By this time, Angelou was writing poetry, short stories, and songs. Her reputation was growing. In 1970, I Know wherefore the Caged Bird Sings was published. It became a be st seller and an instant classic, and became a make-for-television movie. In 1971, her screenplay Georgia, was made into a film, making her the first Black woman to have an captain screenplay produced. The four other volumes of her autobiography are, Gather Together in My Name (1974), Singin and Swingin and Gettin Merry Like Christmas (1976), The Heart of a woman (1981), and All Gods Children Need Travelin Shoes (1986). She also published several volumes of poetry and has been nominated for the Pulitzer Prize for one of the, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of weewee fore I Diiie (1971).In 1973, Angelou appeared on Broadway in Look Away and was nominated for a Tony Award. In 1977 she received an Emmy nomination for her performance in the mini series Roots. She was appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford and to the Commission of International Womens Year by President Jimmy Carter. For manyAmericans, one of the most memorable moments during the inauguration of Pre sident Bill Clinton, on January 20, 1993, came when Maya Angelou recited the poem, On the Pulse of Morning not since 1961, when Robert Frost read his work at the ceremony for president John F. Kennedy, had a poet taken part in a presidential inauguration.Dr. Angelou is best known for the first volume of her autobiography, in it, she courageously speaks of her battle to overcome abuse, rape, and poverty. For thousands of young Black women reading the book, it is a way of passage for those who have been similarly victimized, it is like a soothing ointment that helps repossess the wounds. Angelou gives a voice to the voiceless she says, Youre not alone. In happened to me too. You are not to blame. You will survive.The Humanistic approach can be applied to Dr. Maya Angelous biography in a number of ways. In order to do so, I attempted to take each piece by piece to crystallize a clear understanding of both. Beginning with the four elements of the approach it is obvious that she accept s personality responsibility for her life, and doesnt blame anyone else for anything bad that may have happened to her. She hasnt allowed anyone else to make her decisions. Her need for personal growth doesnt seem like it has been met due to the fact that she continues to work and strive for more. I would consider Dr. Angelou to be a fully functioning person because she trusts her own feelings, and experiences them very deeply. It is easy to tell that she really cares about other people and is a true humanist (motivation by growth need).When looking at Manslows hierarchy of demand, it is obvious that her physiological needs have been met, simply because, she is still alive. Since her life as a child was very chaotic and her future was unpredictable, her safety needs were not met at that time. Statements such as All my life, everything has been about survival. All of my words are meant to say. You may encounter many defeats but you must not be defeated. In fact the encounter may b e the very experience which created the vitality and the antecedent to endure, lead me to believe the she has, however, managed to find a way to stabilize her life and have those needs met.What I would like said about me is that I dared to love. She said to Essence Magazine. By love I mean the condition in the human spirit so profound it encourages us to develop courage and relieve oneself bridges and learn to trust those bridges and cross the bridges in attempt to reach other human beings. This shows that her belongingness and love needs have been met because she knows that they are important and has allowed them to be. I believe that the kind of love adopted by Angelou is B-love because she is really concerned with the well-being and growth of others. I could tell that her self-esteem needs have also been met because if they werent, she wouldnt be as successful as she is.One statement in the book that really stood out to me about self-actualization was made by Manslow An artist must paint, a poet must pen, if he is to be ultimately at peace with himself. What a man can be, he must be. He must be true to his own nature. I feel that although Angelou is doing something that makes her happy, and that she loves, her self actualization needs have not been met because she continues to do more. I in person believe that if these needs are met, then people lose their motivation and drive to live, because there is nothing to achieve, no goals to reach, which results in nothing to look previous to anymore.Maya Angelou is a psychologically healthy person because she does posses self-actualizing creativity, which is shown in her writing, she accepts herself, and expresses herself freely. I think her life seems to be full of optimal experiences, one of which is writing. She has stated that she can write for eighteen hours straight in complete solitude and not notice it. She also seems to have no problem with disclo reliable, which is obvious because she is a writer. S he continuously puts her feelings and emotions on display. She discloses events that are traumatic as well as those that are not, which seems to be good for her self-development because it is a great release. Im not really sure if Dr. Angelou has experienced loneliness, but it is possible because everyone has felt that way at one time or another.One would say of my life-born loser-had to be from a broken family, raped at eight, unwed mother at sixteen . . . in fact but thats not the truth. In the Black community, however bad it looks, theres a lot of love and muchhumor. This statement shows that there are many ways in which race, and sex have affected Angelous life because she would not have gone through a lot of the experiences that she has if she simply were not a Black woman.Youre going to be famous, Billie holiday told Maya Angelou in 1958, but it wont be for singing. The first part of this prophecy was fulfilled. The second part, in the most superficial sense, was true as well . Angelous fame did not grow from the nightclub singing she was then doing to support herself and her son. But in a way Holiday was wrong. Since she first put paper to pen, Maya Angelou has been singing.In closing, by taking all of the aspects of the Humanistic approach into consideration, I believe that it does, give a few possible explanations about Dr. Angelous personality when say to the little information that is given about her in her biography. By writing this paper I feel that I have gained a deeper insight on how to appreciate and do this approach to the life and personality of anyone. I understand how this approach can apply to many people that I come into pass every day and possibly explain why they behave in the manners that they do. If they are writers and all that they put forth are sad pieces, if they are singers and mostly talk about sex. Whatever the case may be, there is a reason behind the things that people do. The humanistic approach can apply to all areas of life with no exclusions based on race, class, or gender.