Imagine That!

After enduring the hustle and bustle, sleep deprivation and overall excitement of Orientation Week, more than 1,700 overambitious freshmen flooded the main quad on West Campus to find seating in the Chapel minutes prior to renowned poet Maya Angelou’s annual address. I was one of those overambitious freshmen—eager to listen to the very person who recited her poem at former President Bill Clinton’s inauguration.

Wide-eyed and abnormally anxious, I jumped after seeing the legend wheeled to the front of the stage. Following an introduction by the president of the Delta Gamma society, hundreds of freshmen jumped up and applauded to welcome the distinguished writer to Duke University. After the standing ovation, Angelou presented an inspirational quote that will stick with us forever. She made it very clear that she, like us, benefited from those who made sacrifices for the sake of others—those who put “rainbows in our clouds.”

“God puts rainbows in the clouds so that each of us—in the dreariest and most dreaded moments—can see a possibility of hope," Angelou said. "When it looks like the sun isn’t going to shine any more, there's a rainbow in the clouds.”

At first, I wasn’t exactly sure what Angelou’s remarks to our class meant, but then she told us her life story. She noted that there is a great difference between being educated and being trained, that whatever we lacked from schooling could be obtained through continuous learning from life. Throughout her life, Angelou continuously learned lessons about the nature of humans. As children, Angelou and her brother were sent to live with their paternal grandmother as a result of a disagreement between their parents. Being that her grandmother was one of the first black business owners, Angelou learned many things throughout her time at the store.

She eventually moved to live with her mother in St. Louis, Mo., where she was subject to rape by her mother’s boyfriend. After Angelou reported the incident, the perpetrator was jailed for one day and then released. The next day, the man was found dead, and Angelou felt as if her words were strong enough to cause his death. As a result, she became a mute for many years, and only talked to her brother because she felt that her words didn’t cause him any harm.

Angelou then noted all the ‘rainbows in her clouds’—people who helped her get to where she is today, such as her grandmother and her brother. Angelou blamed her current success on the ‘rainbows in her clouds’ and told the freshmen class that she got to where she needed to be because of the “the people who didn’t have to shine their lights on my path but chose to.”

“Many people wonder, how I got to be Maya Angelou, born black in a white country, poor in a country where money is adored, and sought after almost at any cost," Angelou recounted. “I have become Maya Angelou because of the rainbows in my clouds.”

Angelou noted that we had been “paid for”, that our parents, friends, family members and teachers—though separated from our class—helped us make it to where we are today. Like her Uncle Billy, who helped Angelou and the mayor of Little Rock learn multiplication tables, the “young and for the most part pretty,” have the potential to enlighten and inspire others.