She announced she was going to recite African-American poetry because it had made possible a people's survival. You need to know these poets. You need to know that someone was there before you, that someone was lonely before you, that someone was terrified before you, abused before you, yet survived. Angelou confided how she was raped by her stepfather at age 7, then afterward stopped talking because she was afraid her words had killed him. He was found dead a short time later.
Laughter is the sweetest revenge.