Maya Angelou gets a Google doodle

Technology giant, Google has honoured the late literary icon, Maya Angelou with a doodle in celebration of what would have been her 90th birthday on April 4.  On Wednesday, Google celebrates the playwright, poet, memoirist and cultural icon with its doodle illustration along with an animated video based on her famous poem, ‘Still I Rise.’ […]

Technology giant, Google has honoured the late literary icon, Maya Angelou with a doodle in celebration of what would have been her 90th birthday on April 4. 

On Wednesday, Google celebrates the playwright, poet, memoirist and cultural icon with its doodle illustration along with an animated video based on her famous poem, ‘Still I Rise.’

It featured Angelou’s own voice and was rendered by Oprah Winfrey, Laverne Cox, America Ferera, Alicia Keys, Martina McBride and Guy Johnson (Angelou’s son).

Clicking on the doodle leads the viewer to the animation page where the poem is recited through colourfully illustrated animation slides scrolling horizontally and vertically. 

When her doodle is clicked it leads to a page of the stars reading Angelou’s poem while illustrations fill the screen.

According to Winfrey who spoke to Google about the poet, “Maya Angelou is not what she has done or written or spoken, it’s how she did it all. She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence, and a fiery, fierce grace and abounding love.”

In 1970, Angelou’s famous book, ‘I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings’ achieved the rare feat in that era of staying about six weeks on the New York Times bestseller list.

Angelou died in 2014. She will be remembered for her stories which centred on trauma and racism, reflecting that stories of black women could be successful in the mainstream.