Gather Together in My Name is the second of seven memoirs by Maya Angelou (pictured). Published in 1974, the book begins just after the events of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and follows Angelou from the ages of 17 to 19. Written three years after Caged Bird, the book "depicts a single mother's slide down the social ladder into poverty and crime." She expands upon many themes that she started discussing in her first autobiography, including motherhood and family, racism, identity, education and literacy. Gather Together received mostly positive reviews; it was not as critically acclaimed as Caged Bird, but was recognized as being better written. The book's structure, consisting of a series of episodes tied together by theme and content, parallels the chaos of adolescence, which some critics felt makes it an unsatisfactory sequel. The title, taken from the Bible, conveys how one black woman lived in white-dominated American society after World War II. (This article is part of a featured topic: Maya Angelou autobiographies.).
Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:Featured_topics/Maya_Angelou_autobiographies
_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:
1838:
The Jesuits' Maryland province contracted to sell 272 slaves to buyers in Louisiana in one of the largest slave sales in American history. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1838_Jesuit_slave_sale
1953:
Americans Julius and Ethel Rosenberg were executed as spies for passing nuclear weapons secrets to the Soviet Union. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Julius_and_Ethel_Rosenberg
1965:
Nguyễn Cao Kỳ, the commander of the South Vietnam Air Force, was appointed prime minister at the head of a military regime. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nguy%E1%BB%85n_Cao_K%E1%BB%B3
1987:
Basque separatist group ETA detonated a car bomb at the Hipercor shopping centre in Barcelona, killing 21 people and injuring 45 others. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hipercor_bombing
_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:
priceless: 1. So precious as not to be obtainable or sold at any price; invaluable. 2. (figuratively) 3. Held in high regard; treasured. 4. (informal) Absurd, ridiculous. 5. (informal) Very amusing, hilarious. 6. (informal, often ironic) Excellent, fantastic, wonderful. 7. (literally, uncommon) Without a price assigned. 8. (obsolete) Of no value; valueless, worthless. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/priceless
___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:
Juneteenth marks both the long, hard night of slavery and subjugation, and a promise of a brighter morning to come. This is a day of profound — in my view — profound weight and profound power. A day in which we remember the moral stain, the terrible toll that slavery took on the country and continues to take — what I’ve long called “America’s original sin.” At the same time, I also remember the extraordinary capacity to heal, and to hope, and to emerge from the most painful moments and a bitter, bitter version of ourselves, but to make a better version of ourselves. --Joe Biden https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Joe_Biden