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4.23 AVERAGE
4.23 AVERAGE
Maya Angelou's autobiography vol.5, 1962-1965
"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. It impels mighty ambitions and dangerous capers... Hoping that by doing these things home will find us acceptable or failing that, we will forget our awful yearning for it"
This book explores the longing for home and the painful search for what that even means. It spans Angelou's early 30s, during which she lived in various countries in Africa. In previous books she describes her longing, as an African-American, for the true homeland from which her ancestors were forcibly taken. Her experience there is not straightforward; instead of being welcomed home with open arms she is treated as a stranger. She tries desperately to make a home in Ghana and be treated as a Ghanian, going to great lengths to fit in. On a few occasions she manages it, but portrays its as a lie, contorting herself to be someone she is not in order to fulfil the unbearable yearning for a homeland. Angelou presents a painful irony of being told she is an American for the first time in her life in the one place she expected to find acceptance. She slowly realises that she misses African-American culture and comes to an appreciation of its vibrancy that only separation could bring, eventually deciding to return.
I love how Angelou presents herself as good and bad and inconsistent and emotional and powerful; in other words, so human. She describes her vibrant life so vividly and it is fascinating to read.
"The ache for home lives in all of us, the safe place where we can go as we are and not be questioned. It impels mighty ambitions and dangerous capers... Hoping that by doing these things home will find us acceptable or failing that, we will forget our awful yearning for it"
This book explores the longing for home and the painful search for what that even means. It spans Angelou's early 30s, during which she lived in various countries in Africa. In previous books she describes her longing, as an African-American, for the true homeland from which her ancestors were forcibly taken. Her experience there is not straightforward; instead of being welcomed home with open arms she is treated as a stranger. She tries desperately to make a home in Ghana and be treated as a Ghanian, going to great lengths to fit in. On a few occasions she manages it, but portrays its as a lie, contorting herself to be someone she is not in order to fulfil the unbearable yearning for a homeland. Angelou presents a painful irony of being told she is an American for the first time in her life in the one place she expected to find acceptance. She slowly realises that she misses African-American culture and comes to an appreciation of its vibrancy that only separation could bring, eventually deciding to return.
I love how Angelou presents herself as good and bad and inconsistent and emotional and powerful; in other words, so human. She describes her vibrant life so vividly and it is fascinating to read.
adventurous
funny
hopeful
reflective
medium-paced
Deserves a 3 1/2 if I could give it. This one wasn't as easy for me to get into as her others (which are some of my favorites.) Still, very good and very Maya Angelou. I still love her, this just wasn't my favorite.
Shamefully, as a Black woman well into my 20s, this book was the first Maya Aneglou book I've ever read. It did not disappoint.
More than anything, 'All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes' is a search for an answer to the question: 'Where is home?'.
In the 1960s, Maya Angelou finds herself on this search in Ghana, where many African-American intellectuals and activists of the time chose to migrate. She, like her counterparts, went there to work but even more pressingly to also find a connection to her roots. The continent was abuzz with Pan-Africanism, Black nationalism and de-colonial thinking. AGNTS documents the many happenings of this movement from Angelou's perspective. Her description of the colours, sounds and people of the West African nation are not only vivid, but so drenched in love that Angelou's affection for Ghana and Ghanaians is undeniable. But through her poetic writing, she shows the reader that perhaps that love is not enough. Perhaps, her and her Black American contemporaries are simply too far removed from Africa to feel connected to it anymore. She finds herself longing for the streets of the cities she left behind in the US, for the rhythm and the one-of-a-kind culture that African Americans carved out for themselves. But what, Angelou asks her readers, is their alternative? A nation that denies even the most basic tenets of their humanity? A place that brutalises them as punishment for merely existing? Is home simply a nothingness to Black Americans?
Maya Angelou also writes about herself in retrospect with a refreshing self-scrutiny and humility that I think all peopled should learn from. She freely admits her faults as a mother to her only son Guy, and concedes that she found it difficult to contend with his transition from boy to man. She also records being chastised by Malcolm X himself in a conversation that birthed one of his most famous quotes: 'Don't be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn't do what you do, or think as you think. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today'. A pleasant surprise for myself who had always loved this quote of his, but was unaware of the context it came from until reading this book.
Another aspect I enjoyed was seeing the conversations and meetings of prominent Black figures of the time through Angelou's eyes. A painfully awkward encounter between Malcolm X and Mohammad Ali after their rift is a favourite of mine that also got me a little teary. The Liberian president's speech at the Egyptian embassy is another.
The book ends with a harrowing encounter between Maya and the tribe of people she realises her slave ancestors descend from. The experience (which I won't spoil too much about) answers her initial question about home in a heartwarming way.
I loved this book. The experience of reading it made me mourn the loss of Maya Angelous all over again.
More than anything, 'All God's Children Need Travelling Shoes' is a search for an answer to the question: 'Where is home?'.
In the 1960s, Maya Angelou finds herself on this search in Ghana, where many African-American intellectuals and activists of the time chose to migrate. She, like her counterparts, went there to work but even more pressingly to also find a connection to her roots. The continent was abuzz with Pan-Africanism, Black nationalism and de-colonial thinking. AGNTS documents the many happenings of this movement from Angelou's perspective. Her description of the colours, sounds and people of the West African nation are not only vivid, but so drenched in love that Angelou's affection for Ghana and Ghanaians is undeniable. But through her poetic writing, she shows the reader that perhaps that love is not enough. Perhaps, her and her Black American contemporaries are simply too far removed from Africa to feel connected to it anymore. She finds herself longing for the streets of the cities she left behind in the US, for the rhythm and the one-of-a-kind culture that African Americans carved out for themselves. But what, Angelou asks her readers, is their alternative? A nation that denies even the most basic tenets of their humanity? A place that brutalises them as punishment for merely existing? Is home simply a nothingness to Black Americans?
Maya Angelou also writes about herself in retrospect with a refreshing self-scrutiny and humility that I think all peopled should learn from. She freely admits her faults as a mother to her only son Guy, and concedes that she found it difficult to contend with his transition from boy to man. She also records being chastised by Malcolm X himself in a conversation that birthed one of his most famous quotes: 'Don't be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn't do what you do, or think as you think. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today'. A pleasant surprise for myself who had always loved this quote of his, but was unaware of the context it came from until reading this book.
Another aspect I enjoyed was seeing the conversations and meetings of prominent Black figures of the time through Angelou's eyes. A painfully awkward encounter between Malcolm X and Mohammad Ali after their rift is a favourite of mine that also got me a little teary. The Liberian president's speech at the Egyptian embassy is another.
The book ends with a harrowing encounter between Maya and the tribe of people she realises her slave ancestors descend from. The experience (which I won't spoil too much about) answers her initial question about home in a heartwarming way.
I loved this book. The experience of reading it made me mourn the loss of Maya Angelous all over again.
emotional
hopeful
inspiring
reflective
fast-paced
Gave me an understanding of Ghanaian culture and the array of emotions a black American undergoes as she discovers the roots of her beginnings. Many passages reveal again how not much has changed since 1986 since 1968 since 1900.
I'm also impressed by Maya's ability to move through the world so fluidly. It gives me courage to continue to leave places and start new as an attempt to find new community and facets of myself and this world.
I'm also impressed by Maya's ability to move through the world so fluidly. It gives me courage to continue to leave places and start new as an attempt to find new community and facets of myself and this world.
adventurous
reflective
sad
medium-paced
Number 5 out of 7 autobiographies! Maya Angelou undoubtedly has lived an illustrious life and this one covers the part where she lives in Ghana. There is so much beauty and sadness in each scene, but the one that got me most was the scene with Guy 🥺
I’ve never had children but I can imagine letting them grow and be independent can feel deeply upsetting (even though you’re doing all the right things).
Angelou does not shy away from the big feelings and the human nature and for that I truly appreciate her writing ❤️
3.5 out of 5 stars for me, thank you ✨ Off to source a copy of A Song Flung Up to Heaven now! 🥹
Content Warnings
Graphic: Body horror, Racial slurs, Racism, Colonisation, Classism
I read this book because I read an article by DeNeen Brown, a Washington Post journalist who is planning to move to Africa because she just can't take the racism in this country. She referenced this book, so I read it. Maya Angelou is one of the women I have admired for ever so long but haven't read her autobiographical books (!!) so a lot of this referenced parts of her life that were unknown to me and thus confusing, particularly her relationship with her son, Guy. I'm definitely going to fill in those gaps. However, the relationships she built in Africa, mostly with ex-pats, and the experiences she had there, were additional enlightenment moments for me.
- ending hasn’t left me. If you are open and willing for something powerful, God is gonna come through