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Overview
Maya Angelou’s 1978 poem “Phenomenal Woman” is something of a Black feminist manifesto, delivered by a confident Black female speaker who’s proud of her beauty and her sexuality
. What’s so remarkable about this speaker is her refusal to submit to her society’s idealized beauty standards. Though oppressive for all women, these standards are especially oppressive for Black women, since in the 1970s the ideal body was almost universally depicted as white. With this in mind, Angelou’s poem sounds a note of righteous defiance and calls for radical self-love.Read a summary & analysis, an analysis of the speaker, and explanations of important quotes from “Phenomenal Woman.”
