Olaudah Equiano (c. 1745 – 31 March 1797) also known as Gustavus Vassa or Graves, was an important African involved in the British movement for the abolition of the slave trade. He was made a slave when he was a child but was later able to buy his freedom. He worked as an author, merchant, and explorer in South America, the Caribbean, the Arctic, the American colonies, and the United Kingdom, where he settled by 1792. In his autobiography, "The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano", he wrote about the horrors of slavery. This influenced the passing of the Slave Trade Act of 1807.
Tasman Island
Tasman Island is a small island in south-eastern Australia. It is part of Tasmania. It has an area of , and consists of a plateau surrounded by steep cliffs. The plateau is about above sea level, the highest point on the island is about above sea level. In 1905, a lighthouse was built on the island; there is also a weather station. Since 1977, the lighthouse is automatic, and no longer requires people to be on the island. The island is named after Abel Tasman. It is part of Tasman National Park today.
José Vaquerizo Relucio
José Vaquerizo Relucio (born October 10, 1978 in Valencia) is a boccia player from Spain. He has not always had a job. He has a physical disability: He has cerebral palsy and is a BC1 type athlete. He competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. His team finished third in the Team BC1-2 game.
The Girl Can't Help It
The Girl Can't Help It is a 1956 American romantic comedy musical movie. It stars Jayne Mansfield as Jerri Jordan. It was produced and directed by Frank Tashlin. It was based on the 1955 book "Do Re Mi" by Garson Kanin. Musical stars Little Richard, The Platters, and others appear in the movie as themselves.
German papiermark
The German Papiermark (often just Papiermark) was the money of the Weimar Republic, from 1919 to 1923. On 15 November 1923 it was replaced by the Rentenmark, and in 1924, the Reichsmark became the official money. In 1914, the Gold standard was abolished; there was the First World War. The period when it was used was marked by a high inflation rate. At some time, the "millions" and billions of Mark were written in words, because there was not enough space on the paper.
Roberto Alcaide García
Roberto Alcaide Garcia (born March 22, 1978 in Madrid) is a cyclist from Spain. He has a physical disability: He is a C4/LC2 type cyclist. He raced at the 2004 Summer Paralympics. He was the first racer to finish in the Individual Pursuit track LC2 race. He finished second in the Combined Road LC2 race. He raced at the 2008 Summer Paralympics. He was the second racer to finish in the Individual Pursuit track LC2 race. He was the third racer to finish in the Road Trial LC2 race. He raced at the 2012 Summer Paralympics.
Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou (; born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, author, writer, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and was credited with a list of plays, films, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou was best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.
Angelou became a poet and writer after a series of jobs as a young adult, including fry cook, sex worker, nightclub dancer and performer, cast member of "Porgy and Bess", coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She was an actress, director, producer of plays, movies, and public television programs, and writer. In 1982, she earned the first lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. Beginning in the 1990s, Angelou made around 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" (1993) at Bill Clinton's inauguration, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. Kennedy's inauguration in 1961.
With the publication of "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", she publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of black culture. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide though attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes such as racism, identity, family and travel.
On May 28, 2014, Angelou died in her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina of natural causes at the age of 86.
Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. Angelou's older brother Bailey, Jr., nicknamed Marguerite "Maya," derived from "My" or "Mya Sister." When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage" ended, and their father sent them to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother Annie Henderson. In "an astonishing exception" to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II because the general store she owned sold needed basic commodities and because she "made wise and honest investments".
Four years later, the children's father "came to Stamps without warning" and returned them to their mother's care in St. Louis. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles. Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing, as she stated, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone..." According to Marcia Ann Gillespie and her colleagues, who wrote a biography about Angelou, it was during this period of silence when Angelou developed her extraordinary memory, her love for books and literature, and her ability to listen and observe the world around her.
Shortly after Freeman's murder, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother. Angelou credits a teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, with helping her speak again. Flowers introduced her to authors such as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Douglas Johnson, and James Weldon Johnson, authors who would affect her life and career, as well as black female artists like Frances Harper, Anne Spencer, and Jessie Fauset.
When Angelou was 14, she and her brother moved in with their mother once again, who had since moved to Oakland, California. During World War II, Angelou attended the California Labor School. Before graduating, she worked as the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Three weeks after completing school, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son, Clyde (who later changed his name to Guy Johnson).
Promises! Promises!