Black History Month

All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes

Maya Angelou

Autobiography, 1986

The fifth volume of Maya Angelou's autobiography takes her through the early 1960s. It chronicles her four-year stay in Ghana, which was undertaken as part of her search for self and community. As the book begins, Angelou, who was accompanied to Ghana by her son Guy, is trying to establish herself in her adopted homeland. Resistance from native Ghanaians, however, in the form of disrespect and low pay, reminds her at times of the behavior of racist white Americans. After an assassination attempt on the life of Ghanaian president Kwame Nkrumah sours Ghanaian attitudes toward the expatriate American community, Angelou realizes that her search for a home outside the country of her birth is futile. Angelou contends that in order to feel at home, she must establish her own home within herself.