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Gather Together in My Name Kindle Edition
“A curiously heartening story in which decency, honor, truth, love do exist, imperfectly, fractionally and flickeringly, not in some Platonic realm of the ideal, but in the flawed lives of real men and women.”—The Washington Post
Gather Together in My Name continues Maya Angelou’s personal story, begun so unforgettably in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The time is the end of World War II and there is a sense of optimism everywhere. Maya Angelou, still in her teens, has given birth to a son. But the next few years are difficult ones as she tries to find a place in the world for herself and her child. She goes from job to job–and from man to man. She tries to return home–back to Stamps, Arkansas–but discovers that she is no longer part of that world. Then Maya’s life takes a dramatic turn, and she faces new challenges and temptations.
- LanguageEnglish
- PublisherRandom House
- Publication dateApril 15, 2009
- File size991 KB
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Editorial Reviews
Review
“The book is a gem. It presents a descriptive picture of the texture of the lives and times of many black people in the late forties before the dawn of civil rights. It is so insightful and funny-sad, you catch yourself remembering your own young adulthood.”—Chicago Tribune
“Rich, engaging . . . Angelou tells the story of this dauntless, reckless, foolish girl with few flourishes; it doesn’ t need them.”—The New Yorker
“Angelou’s stature as a writer, a woman, a black, grows, walks tall.”—Kirkus Reviews
"A heroic and beautiful book." —Cleveland Plain Dealer.
"This is the story of a great heroine who knows the meaning of a struggle and never loses her pride or dignity. Indeed, her story makes me proud of the human race." —John Oliver Killens
From the Publisher
From the Inside Flap
From the Back Cover
"This is the story of a great heroine who knows the meaning of a struggle and never loses her pride or dignity. Indeed, her story makes me proud of the human race." -- John Oliver Killens
About the Author
From the Trade Paperback edition.
Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved.
rearrange these letters: ACT-ART-AST
Okay. CAT. RAT. SAT. Now what?
She stood behind her make-up and coiffed hair and manicured nails and dresser-drawers of scented angora sweaters and years of white ignorance and said that I had not passed.
“The telephone company spends thousands of dollars training operators. We simply cannot risk employing anyone who made the marks you made. I’m sorry.”
She was sorry? I was stunned. In a stupor I considered that maybe my outsized intellectual conceit had led me to take the test for granted. And maybe I deserved this high-handed witch’s remarks.
“May I take it again?” That was painful to ask.
“No, I’m sorry.” If she said she was sorry one more time, I was going to take her by her sorry shoulders and shake a job out of her.
“There is an opening, though”—she might have sensed my unspoken threat—“for a bus girl in the cafeteria.”
“What does a bus girl do?” I wasn’t sure I could do it.
“The boy in the kitchen will tell you.”
After I filled out forms and was found uninfected by a doctor, I reported to the cafeteria. There the boy, who was a grandfather, informed me, “Collect the dishes, wipe the tables, make sure the salt and pepper shakers are clean, and here’s your uniform.”
The coarse white dress and apron had been starched with concrete and was too long. I stood at the side of the room, the dress hem scratching my calves, waiting for the tables to clear. Many of the trainee operators had been my classmates. Now they stood over laden tables waiting for me or one of the other dumb bus girls to remove the used dishes so that they could set down their trays.
I lasted at the job a week, and so hated the salary that I spent it all the afternoon I quit.
chapter??2 “Can you cook Creole?”
I looked at the woman and gave her a lie as soft as melting butter. “Yes, of course. That’s all I know how to cook.”
The Creole Café had a cardboard sign in the window which bragged: COOK WANTED. seventy-five dollars a week. As soon as I saw it I knew I could cook Creole, whatever that was.
Desperation to find help must have blinded the proprietress to my age or perhaps it was the fact that I was nearly six feet and had an attitude which belied my seventeen years. She didn’t question me about recipes and menus, but her long brown face did trail down in wrinkles, and doubt hung on the edges of her questions.
“Can you start on Monday?”
“I’ll be glad to.”
“You know it’s six days a week. We’re closed on Sunday.”
“That’s fine with me. I like to go to church on Sunday.”
It’s awful to think that the devil gave me that lie, but it came unexpectedly and worked like dollar bills. Suspicion and doubt raced from her face, and she smiled. Her teeth were all the same size, a small white picket fence semicircled in her mouth.
“Well, I know we’re going to get along. You a good Christian. I like that. Yes, ma’am, I sure do.”
My need for a job caught and held the denial.
“What time on Monday?” Bless the Lord!
“You get here at five.”
Five in the morning. Those mean streets before the thugs had gone to sleep, pillowing on someone else’s dreams. Before the streetcars began to rattle, their lighted insides like exclusive houses in the fog. Five!
“All right, I’ll be here at five, Monday morning.”
“You’ll cook the dinners and put them on the steam table. You don’t have to do short orders. I do that.”
Mrs. Dupree was a short plump woman of about fifty. Her hair was naturally straight and heavy. Probably Cajun Indian, African and white, and naturally, Negro.
“And what’s your name?”
“Rita.” Marguerite was too solemn, and Maya too rich-sounding. “Rita” sounded like dark flashing eyes, hot peppers and Creole evenings with strummed guitars. “Rita Johnson.”
“That’s a right nice name.” Then, like some people do to show their sense of familiarity, she immediately narrowed the name down. “I’ll call you Reet. Okay?”
Okay, of course. I had a job. Seventy-five dollars a week. So I was Reet. Reet, poteet and gone. All Reet. Now all I had to do was learn to cook.
chapter??3 I asked old Papa Ford to teach me how to cook. He had been a grown man when the twentieth century was born, and left a large family of brothers and sisters in Terre Haute, Indiana (always called the East Coast), to find what the world had in store for a “good-looking colored boy with no education in his head, but a pile of larceny in his heart.” He traveled with circuses “shoveling elephant shit.” He then shot dice in freight trains and played koch in back rooms and shanties all over the Northern states.
“I never went down to Hang’em High. Them crackers would have killed me. Pretty as I was, white women was always following me. The white boys never could stand a pretty nigger.”
By 1943, when I first saw him, his good looks were as delicate as an old man’s memory, and disappointment rode his face bareback. His hands had gone. Those gambler’s ?fingers had thickened during the Depression, and his only straight job, carpenting, had further toughened his “money-makers.” Mother rescued him from a job as a sweeper in a pinochle parlor and brought him home to live with us.
He sorted and counted the linen when the laundry truck picked it up and returned it, then grudgingly handed out fresh sheets to the roomers. He cooked massive and delicious dinners when Mother was busy, and he sat in the tall-ceilinged kitchen drinking coffee by the pots.
Papa Ford loved my mother (as did nearly everyone) with a childlike devotion. He went so far as to control his profanity when she was around, knowing she couldn’t abide cursing unless she was the curser.
“Why the sheeit do you want to work in a goddam kitchen?”
“Papa, the job pays seventy-five dollars a week.”
“Busting some goddam suds.” Disgust wrinkled his face.
“Papa, I’ll be cooking and not washing dishes.”
“Colored women been cooking so long, thought you’d be tired of it by now.”
“If you’ll just tell me—”
“Got all that education. How come you don’t get a goddam job where you can go to work looking like something?”
I tried another tack. “I probably couldn’t learn to cook Creole food, anyway. It’s too complicated.”
“Sheeit. Ain’t nothing but onions, green peppers and garlic. Put that in everything and you got Creole food. You know how to cook rice, don’t you?”
“Yes.” I could cook it till each grain stood separately.
“That’s all, then. Them geechees can’t live without swamp seed.” He cackled at his joke, then recalled a frown. “Still don’t like you working as a goddam cook. Get married, then you don’t have to cook for nobody but your own family. Sheeit.”
Product details
- ASIN : B0026LTNMC
- Publisher : Random House (April 15, 2009)
- Publication date : April 15, 2009
- Language : English
- File size : 991 KB
- Text-to-Speech : Enabled
- Screen Reader : Supported
- Enhanced typesetting : Enabled
- X-Ray : Enabled
- Word Wise : Enabled
- Print length : 226 pages
- Page numbers source ISBN : 0812980301
- Best Sellers Rank: #353,382 in Kindle Store (See Top 100 in Kindle Store)
- #183 in Black & African American Biographies & Memoirs
- #497 in Biographies & Memoirs of Authors
- #1,878 in Author Biographies
- Customer Reviews:
About the author
Maya Angelou has been waitress, singer, actress, dancer, activist, filmmaker, writer and mother. As well as her autobiography she has written several volumes of poetry, including 'On the Pulse of the Morning' for the inauguration of President Clinton. She now has a life-time appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina.
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Learn more how customers reviews work on AmazonCustomers say
Customers find the book engaging and enjoyable. They praise the author's insightful storytelling, describing her experiences as thrilling yet heartbreaking. The writing quality is described as elegant and wonderful. Readers appreciate the honesty, realism, and raw human emotion in the book. They also mention the vivid descriptions and humor that leave them alternately laughing and crying.
AI-generated from the text of customer reviews
Customers enjoy the book. They find it engaging and a must-read in the series. The memoirs are described as powerful, interesting, and well-written.
"Outstanding! Austere but encouraging view into Ms. Angelou's life. Her triumphs, her triumphs. Oftentimes, we see the finished product...." Read more
"...It's amazing read...." Read more
"Very good 👍..." Read more
"...Caged Bird Sings," she found Maya's life story fascinating, thoroughly enjoyed this book, and could barely put it down." Read more
Customers find the storyteller insightful and engaging. They describe it as a moving, shocking chapter in Angelou's life with thrilling yet heartbreaking experiences. The book is described as inspiring and a cautionary tale.
"I have all of Maya Angelou’s books! They fill my heart with happiness and joy!..." Read more
"...to learn about all the ups and downs, triumphs and struggle of such an amazing women, and to see how ALL of her experiences shaped her and ever..." Read more
"...It is both inspirational and a cautionary tale. I'd recommend to any young women coming of age and going through life transitions." Read more
"...series, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," she found Maya's life story fascinating, thoroughly enjoyed this book, and could barely put it down." Read more
Customers enjoy the writing style. They find the book easy to read and hard to put down. Readers appreciate the author's ability to make them feel through her writing. They also mention that the book flows smoothly and can change their spirit.
"This is a beautifully written memoir by Dr. Maya Angelou. It is both inspirational and a cautionary tale...." Read more
"...The writing is concise and engaging painting vivid pictures of US society at the time" Read more
"I think Maya Angelou is such a great story teller. I was captivated by her use of words and vividness...." Read more
"I love the authors command of language, her descriptions are always so vivid...." Read more
Customers find the book honest and realistic. They appreciate the raw human emotion and humor. The autobiography is a quick read.
"...I was genuinely moved by this book and its realism. Raw human emotion...." Read more
"I’m never let down by Mrs. Maya Angelou! Always intriguing and sincere. I always pick her books up and I can’t stop reading...." Read more
"...It is even more engaging than her "Caged Bird". Her honesty & detailed memories at times made me laugh - and cry." Read more
"What can I say? I love Maya! She writes with intention and complete honesty" Read more
Customers appreciate the author's vivid descriptions and honest portrayal of the underworld life through a poor character's eyes. They find the book background and storyline good.
"...Nice book background and good story point." Read more
"...I was captivated by her use of words and vividness. I was next to her the whole time, seeing the world through her eyes." Read more
"I love the authors command of language, her descriptions are always so vivid...." Read more
"...which Maya Angelou writes about even the least savory of times is beautiful. She simply writes what we can learn from." Read more
Customers enjoy the humor in the book. They find the characters authentic and funny. The autobiography leaves readers laughing and crying at times.
"Maya Angelo is one of the most funny and authentic people/characters I have ever happened upon...." Read more
"...She had been given the gift of humor and this also helped her not to stay depressed...." Read more
"...story-telling this early-life autobiography leaves the reader alternately laughing and crying with a sort of "there but for the grace of God go..." Read more
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Top reviews from the United States
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- Reviewed in the United States on January 5, 2025Outstanding! Austere but encouraging view into Ms. Angelou's life. Her triumphs, her triumphs.
Oftentimes, we see the finished product. This novel shows you the journey.
- Reviewed in the United States on April 22, 2024I have all of Maya Angelou’s books! They fill my heart with happiness and joy! She is a woman I respect and adore for sharing her stories with the world.
- Reviewed in the United States on November 18, 2014This is the follow up to I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings. I really enjoyed that novel and couldn't wait to pick up where I left off in her life. It's amazing read. It's so surprising to learn about all the ups and downs, triumphs and struggle of such an amazing women, and to see how ALL of her experiences shaped her and ever through those dark places, she still made it through to the light.
Next up is her autobiography, Singin and Swingin and Gettin Merry for Christmas. Fitting for the Christmas season.....we'll see!
- Reviewed in the United States on November 4, 2024The main lesson I took from this book is to never trust a man. I am excited to read the third book and see what her next adventure brings
- Reviewed in the United States on May 10, 2024Very good 👍
- Reviewed in the United States on April 14, 2021This is a beautifully written memoir by Dr. Maya Angelou. It is both inspirational and a cautionary tale. I'd recommend to any young women coming of age and going through life transitions.
- Reviewed in the United States on December 29, 2021My wife is a big fan of Maya Angelou so I got the series for her. She told that me just as with the first in the series, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings," she found Maya's life story fascinating, thoroughly enjoyed this book, and could barely put it down.
- Reviewed in the United States on January 25, 2013I sincerely enjoyed this book. For another human being to be able to express real tangible human emotions through words, is quite simply, moving. I was genuinely moved by this book and its realism. Raw human emotion. A must read for anyone looking to lift up their spirits, and learn about the human condition.
Dr. Maya Angelou, if you ever read this, thank you for the beauty of your words.
Top reviews from other countries
- RachelReviewed in the United Kingdom on September 17, 2024
5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant!
I love Maya Angelou’s writing, I read her first autobiography and then bought the rest of them. This is her 2nd one and it covers her alter teenage years. It really reads like it’s a whole lifetime due to all the things she went through. In 3 years she went through so much and so young, I found it so sad that she was going through some awful stuff when she was just so young. I can’t wait to read the next one!
- JoReviewed in Spain on May 3, 2023
5.0 out of 5 stars Gather together in my name
Fast delivery excellent book
- PlaceholderReviewed in India on January 25, 2020
5.0 out of 5 stars Amazing book
Great book. Maya Angelou is a true gem.
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Kerstin DoerflingerReviewed in France on August 13, 2017
5.0 out of 5 stars Great book!!
Maya Angelou is not just a fascinating woman and civil rights defender, her books are also very important to understand racism. I read all her books within three months and I would recommend them to everyone.
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Cliente Kindle ragionevoliReviewed in Italy on May 3, 2018
5.0 out of 5 stars Better and better
I read the first volume of the autobiography and I was impressed but the second one, this one, is even better. Rita is struggling to survive in a very difficult world, she makes mistakes, she resurrect, she goes down again, she meets a lot of nasty people and a few good ones. I look forward to go on with the incredible story of her life. And she is only 19!