Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise

This loving portrait focuses on poet, author, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou (1928-2014), who played a major role in the American Civil Rights movement alongside Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Her autobiographical novels, plays and film scripts made a huge impact on African-American culture. Directors Bob Hercules and Rita Coburn Whack let her tell her own, powerful story, supplementing it with quotes from admirers including Bill Clinton and Oprah Winfrey. Looking back on her troubled childhood in segregation-era Arkansas, she speaks revealingly about how she was abused by a friend of her mother’s, whom she did not speak to for five years. It was in this period that she developed her love for literature and poetry. She talks without embarrassment about the loss of her virginity, her early career as a prostitute, nightclub dancer and calypso diva, and her tumultuous love life. is a testament to a life lived to the full, without shame or regrets.