In late May, poet, actress and civil rights activist Maya Angelou died. Her death was met with grief, and her life, which began in the Jim Crow South, was seen as an inspiration. Just about everything she wrote touched on how, when life (or racism or sexism or poverty or…) knocks you down, the only thing to do is get back up. This sentiment courses through perhaps her most well-known poem, “Still I Rise.” Here’s the first verse:
You may write me down in history With your bitter, twisted lies, You may trod me in the very dirt But still, like dust, I rise. ...