This week’s FFOTW obviously goes to Maya Angelou. As it was her birthday last week, the only way to properly honor her work is to share it.

Maya Angelou was born in 1928 and grew up to be one of the most influential and famous black female authors of our time.

She worked as a screenwriter, poet, dancer, and actress and she also took part in fighting for civil rights in the 1960’s. she also appeared in several television shows and movies.

Angelou was seven years old when she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend and became mute for six years. Not only was she the first black woman to work as a street car conductor in San Francisco, California, she also was also awarded the first nonfiction best-seller by a black woman. In her life, Angelou was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album, and Women in Film Crystal Award to name a few.

Maya Angelou exemplified what It meant to be a powerful, feminine, woman and her legacy lives on today.

Angelou is still honored today through the continuance of the work she created and through other honors, like the creation of a stamp in her likeness, two NAACP Image awards in outstanding literary work, and a nomination for a Pulitzer Prize.

She continued to inspire millions of people throughout her life as a teacher, poet, and mentor to women and girls around the world.

Here are 5 quotes from poems by Maya Angelou that will help you meet the end of the week encouraged and powerful.

1.

“Does my sexiness upset you?
Does it come as a surprise
That I dance like I’ve got diamonds
At the meeting of my thighs?”
- Still I Rise, 1978

2.

I say,
It’s the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I’m a woman
Phenomenally.
- Phenomenal Woman, 1978

3.

"Both feet flat, the game is done.
They think I lost. I think I won."
- Harlem Hopscotch, 1971

4.

"I came up with one thing
And I don't believe I'm wrongThat nobody,But nobodyCan make it out here alone."
- Alone, 1975

5.

"Just like moons and like suns,
With the certainty of tides,
Just like hopes
springing high,
Still I'll rise."- Still I Rise, 1978