The rainy Tuesday evening did not keep students, faculty, staff and community members from hearing renowned poet, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director Dr. Maya Angelou speak.
The event was titled: “An Evening with Dr. Maya Angelou.”
Some 3,600 people filled the Mini-Dome. The event was hosted by the ETSU Diversity Events Committee. “We wanted a lecturer for our big event this spring. We wanted to bring an event that would wow the Johnson City community as well as ETSU,” said Shay Turner, DEC member.
Their wishes went uncontested when they requested the lecturer last semester. After research and discussion among them, the committee proposed to 606 funding for $33,000 of the $37,000 Dr. Angelou requested. The committee’s case was simple: they wanted to bridge the gap in the community. The plan was a go, and the remaining monies and volunteer efforts were provided by Black Affairs, the Department of English, Women’s Resource Center, Women’s Studies, Office of Equity and Diversity, Residence Hall Association and the ETSU Gospel Choir.
“Dr. Angelou is someone everyone should experience,” freshman English major Ash-lee Henderson said.
On-air personality Susan Lachmann of Women on Air said, “I think it’s great [to have Angelou at ETSU].”
Seventies soul music played as the lights dimmed and the crowd waited for the speaker to enter. Angelou arrived at 7:30 p.m. in her motorized vehicle to a standing ovation.
After the welcome by Joy Fulkerson and two selections from the Gospel Choir, she was ready to speak and the crowd was ready to listen.
The icon’s 77 year-old frame dressed in a black and orange-sequined gown was escorted to the stage. As she looked into the crowd, her first words were in song. She said she has a love of language – all languages – but because she was a black woman, un-wed and with a child at age 16, she thought all hope was lost.
Her theme of the night was to “be a rainbow in the cloud.” A rainbow in the cloud to her means hope. She encouraged students to hope and not give up. “Someone was there before you . lonely, confused, discouraged, poor, and yet survived, and better that – thrived,” she said.
She told the crowd, not to trust anyone that doesn’t smile.
She had funny moments in her speech like when she recounted going to a health foods diner to sit down and have a smoke with her vegetables and rice. The waitress was rude, but this fueled her to write a poem. She said, “When someone is rude to you, be nicer to the next person, you. Had I not persevered, I would have been just one black girl in Arkansas. Look at me and see what you can be”
After her speech, Angelou recieved a standing ovation with the sign-language interpreters, and they bowed together. Angelou then exited the Dome with a wave.
“If I’m living where we can pull off an event this big, it makes me consider what else can happen,” Lachmann said.

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