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All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes

Maya Angelou

Start date: November 1, 2017

Finish date: November 30, 2017

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Dec 10, 2012 Cheryl rated it it was amazing · review of another edition

Shelves: mesmerizing, memoirs, global-intrigue, afro-american, africa

Thank goodness for the "Books-a-Million" African-American lit shelf, where they stock books front cover forward. There I was, waiting at their cafe for some chai, and this book was right there smiling at me. As soon as I flipped through the pages and saw Maya Angelou's reference to Liberia (my birth land where I spent most of my adolescence), I knew I had to buy and read.

During the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, a group of black Americans weary of the racial tensions, left America Thank goodness for the "Books-a-Million" African-American lit shelf, where they stock books front cover forward. There I was, waiting at their cafe for some chai, and this book was right there smiling at me. As soon as I flipped through the pages and saw Maya Angelou's reference to Liberia (my birth land where I spent most of my adolescence), I knew I had to buy and read.

During the American Civil Rights Movement of the 1960's, a group of black Americans weary of the racial tensions, left America headed for West Africa. They called themselves the "Revolutionist Returnees." I was surprised to learn that Maya Angelou was a part of this group and what was so refreshing about this memoir was her willingness to relay her flaws in this book. Compared to other memoirs she has written, you feel as if you are reading about the behind-the-scenes, non-celebrity author Maya Angelou here (although it helps to know that she was in her early to mid-thirties in this book).

If you've read her book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," you get a sense for why she was angry (almost militant), ill-tempered (rude in some cases), a writer who had not come to terms with her writing, an actress, and a "vagabond" who had traveled from state to state, country to country, trying to find herself. I was moved by another memoir she wrote, "Letter to my Daughter," but this book was a transformative read that reached for my attention.

The book starts in 1962, when Angelou is on her way to Liberia with her 19-year old son. While in Ghana visiting friends, her son is a victim of a nasty car accident, which forces her to cancel her Liberian trip and Liberian job to stay in Ghana.

This book opens with her going into a deep depression because of this.

In Ghana, she meets a group of black American expatriates and a community of foreigners (thanks to President Nkrumah). The story really centers around her (and those around her) finding her way into the African community. She mentions placing the African and black American cultures side by side for examination, at one point even learning to still her anger by viewing the people around her: "Black American insouciance was the one missing element in West Africa. Courtesy and form, traditional dignity, respectful dismissal and history were the apparent ropes holding their society close and nearly impenetrable."

As if all this self revelation wasn't astounding enough, I was surprised when Malcolm X was introduced to the story and pleasantly surprised to learn that W.E.B. Du Bois was a member of the expats living in Ghana (in fact he died in Ghana just before MLK's march to Washington). The changed Malcolm X had just returned from Mecca, where he had ejected himself from the following of Elijah Muhammed and now saw life differently. He even scolded Maya Angelou as she drove him to the airport, "don't be in such a hurry to condemn a person because he doesn't do what you do, or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today." There were so many lessons like this one throughout the book--she even mentions the turmoils between Jews and Germans when she visits Germany.

I did have one minor issue with a characterization of Liberians--one minor detail with the Americo-Liberian history cited. Yet what this memoir did well was that it compared social issues across cultures, it was encouraging even during the parts where it was disheartening, it spoke of transformation and social change, and it was scented with a lot of rich West African culture. The ending was superb.

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