"My Arkansas" by Maya Angelou, discusses her.
remembrance of an old Arkansas where she had spent.
some time as a child with her grandmother, in a rural.
segregated part of the state. An Arkansas where.
discrimination against blacks was an every day.
occurrence, and to this day, still has strong racial.
discrimination. The speaker, who is also the writer,.
talks of past crimes that had occurred against black.
people. "My Arkansas" gives a glimpse of what it must.
have been like for a black person living during that.
time experiencing the atrocities of their civil.
liberties trounced. "My Arkansas" tells of how civil.
liberties and discrimination had been abused by.
members of our society.
The speaker begins by giving an allusion of a very.
violent past in this poem. The speaker is a black.
woman who hints at this violent past, and remembers it.
well. Maya Angelou is also a civil liberties activist.
She understands the discrimination that was the cause.
of this violence and puts it in the past where it.
belongs. Racial discrimination is still present in.
Arkansas and everywhere else in the country. Civil.
liberties, society is still abusing them today.
In the first stanza, the speaker talks of a "deep.
brooding," meaning that the crimes of the past still.
haunt those in Arkansas. It talks of "moss pend,".
crimes not forgotten, but festoon human minds like.
moss festoons the "poplar" trees. Referring to black.
people hanging from the trees, for they would use the.
same tree repeatedly to hang people. The earth has.
been a witness to all of this violence; slowly.
absorbing all of the hate that people have given it.
It also describes the earth as being red, red from the.
blood of all those people murdered. The speaker does.
an excellent job of giving you a visual of the racial.
discrimination from the past.
The second stanza tells of how past crimes are.
overshadowed by the present day, crimes that will not.
be hidden by the darkness of time. We as a society.
need to realize all of the hurt and pain we have.
