Letter to My Daughter

While touring with the cast of Porgy and Bess, a George and Gershwin opera, Angelou felt immense guilt at spending so much time away from her son, Guy. Desperate to be with him again, she worked extra nights, taking blues gigs and staying in hostels until she could afford a ticket home. Upon being reunited with her son, she felt anxiety about his future. Angelou wondered how she could raise her son to be happy and liberated within a racist society. Suddenly, she felt the urge to grab him and jump out the window. She immediately took herself to a psychiatric clinic, fearing that she might hurt her son. Seeing that her doctor was a young white man, she began to cry: “How could this privileged young white man understand the heart of a black woman who was sick with guilt because she left her little black son for others to raise?” (25). She composed herself and left.

Angelou decided to speak with her voice teacher, Wilkie. He asked her to write down all of her blessings on a yellow legal pad. When she resisted, he told her to thank God she could hear symphonies, see the yellow pad in front of her, and see beautiful waterfalls.