Over one hundred years following the abolition of slavery, some African Americans still feel confined. They feel that they're still oppressed and are made to feel like aliens in the very nation that was built from the sweat and blood of their ancestors. On the other hand there are those Negroes that rejoice in their sense of freedom. They feel a renewed spirit within them at the reality that they can enjoy the very same freedoms as other Americans. Among these liberated blacks is one Maya Angelou. Ms. Angelou is a renowned female African American richly blessed throughout her life by her many successes despite her gender and race. She was the first Black woman to have an original screenplay produced. In addition, Ms. Angelou was the first Black female San Francisco streetcar conductor. The fact that she is a Black woman has apparently never been a hindrance to her aspirations and drive for she has celebrated her being and given voice to it through her well-known poetry.
             Still I Rise, being a prime example of such, celebrates the rise of the Black woman from the depths of slavery, oppression, and segregation, whether self-inflicted or otherwise. It's the voice of every Black woman proud of her sensuality, free-spiritedness, self-assuredness, and unwavering sense of great self-worth. "Does my sassiness upset you?" "Does my sexiness upset you?" "Does my haughtiness offend you?" She asks these questions however leave no room for a response. For she seemingly taunts her intended audience with her self-confidence and cool assurance that no one any longer has power over who she is or what she says and does. All this comes after bearing the burdens placed upon her by the White man and even her own Black man.
             She ridicules historians that try to dominate her with their version of what she's endured. Despite accounts of a painful past rife with severe
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