Ruby Dee and Maya Angelou Angels of Dignity

Like most us I was saddened to hear of the deaths of two remarkable, legendary, transcendent American women. The loss of one is extremely painful; the loss of two in such quick succession is almost unthinkable. The profound poetry of Dr. Maya Angelou inspired generations of young people to question the norms of an unjust society and challenge us to force change for the good of all, which is exactly what she worked for until the day she was called home. Ruby Dee was a tireless advocate for social justice who became one of the most respected and revered artists of any genre in American history. Both of these women have been an inspiration to me as artist, having influenced me as a citizen, a thinker and as a man.



When I think of Dr. Angelou I always think of her poem “I Know Why the Caged bird Sings”

The free bird leaps

on the back of the wind
and floats downstream
till the current ends
and dips his wings
in the orange sun rays
and dares to claim the sky.

But a bird that stalks
down his narrow cage
can seldom see through
his bars of rage
his wings are clipped and
his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing.

The caged bird sings
with fearful trill
of the things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom

The free bird thinks of another breeze
and the trade winds soft through the sighing trees
and the fat worms waiting on a dawn-bright lawn
and he names the sky his own.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.

But a caged bird stands on the grave of dreams
his shadow shouts on a nightmare scream
his wings are clipped and his feet are tied
so he opens his throat to sing

The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.



My Analysis of Caged Bird:

For too long, there was racial segregation prevalent in American culture, customs and laws. The traditional barriers between blacks and whites existed for hundreds of years with no end in sight. During an era of white supremacy, the lives of African-American’s were characterized by discrimination and limited opportunities. This was a period of perceived African-American inferiority; which was created by and reinforced through a well-designed system of brutal physical violence and intimidation. Blacks were forced to be servile and submissive due to these customs that were deeply ingrained in a prejudiced society. The only way for African-Americans to earn respect was for them to have a voice and stand up for their rights. Maya Angelou encouraged her people to answer the call of freedom and sing loud enough to finally be heard in this poem.

This poem is an extended metaphor. Although the speaker doesn’t mention race specifically, it’s clear that she is showing how the freedoms allotted to whites while being denied to others are a type of morally corrupting force. The attempt to claim ownership of the sky is a tribute to the utter foolishness of white supremacy and the false sense of freedom that prevails in some to this day. This false superiority was created to enslave the vast majority of whites and blind them to the inequities of a society with an extremely rigid class structure.

In the second stanza, the speaker describes the actions of the caged bird, or African-Americans. The speaker says,” But a caged bird that stalks down his narrow cage can seldom see through his bars of rage”. This is an illustration of the anger and frustration blacks were forced to endure. Our people were forced to seek freedom by other means…singing, dancing, creating art.

In stanza three, the speaker says, “The free bird thinks of another breeze… And the fat worms waiting on the dawn bright lawn”. The breeze and fat worms are metaphors for all the hopes and opportunities that the whites had that the blacks didn’t have. In those days whiteness was like having the wind to your back.

This poem is a great illustration of the deep longing for freedom and equality in part created by the African-American experience during segregation . During this discriminatory era, blacks were in a state of oppression due to the stolen opportunities and the hatred they regularly encountered. The bitter inequity and basic unfairness of African-American life is voiced by the singing of the caged bird.

Dr. Angelou’s Life

The loss of America’s poet, Dr. Maya Angelou, is a loss that will be felt for years. This phenomenal woman was more than a writer of remarkable poems. She was a Civil rights activist who along with Malcom X and other leaders helped found the Organization of Afro-American Unity in 1964, the year of my birth. Dr. Angelou was also an accomplished stage and screen actress, novelist, dancer, educator, producer, recording artist, film director and mother of one son.

She traveled abroad extensively, even moving to Cairo, Egypt in 1960 where she served as the English editor of Arab Observer Weekly. The very next year Dr. Angelou moved to Ghana where she taught at the University of Ghana’s School of Music and Drama and wrote for the Ghanian Times. She mastered several languages during her time abroad including, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the African language Fanti.

Her passing on May 28th, 2014 was met with the kind of grief, pain and respect reserved not for celebrities, but for people of actual depth and substance. I’ve personally seen at least 20 online write ups about her and saw a YouTube video that devoted several minutes to the subject of Maya Angelou. And of course first lady Michelle Obama and various other dignitaries spoke at her funeral. This lady, this Renaissance woman, touched people of nearly every age young to old and from every walk of life.



Ruby Dee

The main thing I remember about Ruby Dee is the association with her husband, the actor Ossie Davis, whom Malcolm X once described as “just the finest black man”. The performance of Dee and Davis as an old married couple in Spike Lee’s “Jungle Fever” is one of my favorite moments in all of Lee’s films. It was Ossie Davis who delivered the very memorable eulogy at Malcolm’s funeral, describing him as ‘our shining black prince”.

Along with her husband, the always active Ruby Dee was a member of Congress of Racial Equality, the NAACP, SNCC and various other civil rights organizations. They were also close personal friends with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King. In fact, and I had no idea about this, Dee actually emceed the legendary 1963, March on Washington which of course includes King’s famous “I Have a Dream” speech. In 1970 Dee was presented with the Frederick Douglass Award from the New York Urban League.


Still politically active even later in life, in 1999 Dee and Davis were arrested at the headquarters of the New York Police Department protesting the police shooting of Amadou Diallo. In early 2003, they were proud signatories of “Not in My Name”, an open proclamation vowing opposition to the impending US invasion of Iraq published in The Nation (If only we had listened).

With incredible strength and determination Ruby Dee somehow found time to raise three children, win a Grammy, Drama Desk Award, Obie, Screen Actors Guild Award, Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award, Kennedy Center Honors and survive breast cancer for more than 30 years (she died of natural causes).

Maya Angelou was a woman so powerful and admired by so many feminists and people of color that some conservatives saw her passing as an opportunity to get in one last shot of criticism. These people wrote scathing newspaper columns and online blog posts accusing Dr. Angelou of being “racist”,” communist,” “un-American” and just about anything else they could think of. When a woman can evoke such passionate reactions from perceived enemies upon her death you know she was a force to be reckoned with.

Here’s one example: http://www.debbieschlussel.com/71859/maya-angelou-racist-us-hating-anti-semitic-nutjob-most-overrated-crappy-writer-rih/

I bring these two great ladies up to both pay my respects and present them as two shining examples of the kind of socially and politically active celebrity we sorely miss today. They’re also great role models for anyone who wants to live a long life devoted to freedom, justice and equality. Over the decades, they’ve inspired so many. My admiration for them knows no bounds. If I were to contribute one tiny fraction of what these women accomplished I would die a happy man.

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