What two conditions in Maya Angelou's country influenced her life and poem "Still I Rise"?

Maya Angelou was an African American woman who was born in 1928 and grew up during the Great Depression. The widespread financial hardships of the 1930s affected people in the United States and all over the world. The challenging financial circumstances with which her family contended formed lasting impressions on the girl, who was then named Marguerite. She remained aware of the damaging effects of poverty but also of the resilience that kept people striving to better their lives.

Not only during this era but well into her adulthood, discrimination against African Americans was sanctioned by law. In the United States, the first half of the twentieth century was characterized by the so-called Jim Crow laws that authorized racial segregation and exclusion. Especially in Southern states, violent acts committed against Black people by white supremacist groups, such as the Ku Klux Klan, often were ignored and the perpetrators never brought to justice. In this era, millions of African Americans sought to improve their situation by moving from the South to the North and West; this massive relocation is called the Great Migration.

In “Still I Rise,” the speaker not only acknowledges the many hardships that they have endured, but directly addresses their oppressor. The speaker itemizes numerous different ways that the other person—or a system or an institution—has tried to keep the speaker down. The efforts at domination are both literal and metaphorical. Repeatedly, however, the speaker asserts their refusal to accept such conditions and their irrepressible spirit, which will always inspire them to rise once more.

What two experiences influenced Maya Angelou's "Still I Rise"?

Angelou lived a life that constantly challenged her. Her writing, including "Still I Rise," is a testament to persistence in the face of adversity. Two experiences that shaped Angelou's poem were her rape at age seven and the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

When she was seven, Angelou was sexually assaulted by her mother's boyfriend. This experience traumatized Angelou, in part because she told her older brother who had done it. Later, the man was found dead, likely killed by Angelou's uncles. Because she thought that saying the man's name had led to his death, Angelou became mute for five years, thinking that her voice was deadly. The poem can be read as a celebration of finding one's voice, something Angelou had to literally do.

A second inspiration was the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr., who was killed on April 4, 1968, Angelou's fortieth birthday. Angelou had been asked by King to tour the country promoting King's Southern Christian Leadership Coalition, but she put off beginning this work to throw herself a birthday party. King's assassination on the day of the party caused Angelou to stop celebrating her birthday for many years and underlined how dangerous the struggle for expression can be.

Both these experiences inspired "Still I Rise" in that they both underscored the adversity Angelou and others working for civil rights had to overcome.