WASHINGTON 鈥� The Maya Angelou stamp unveiled on Tuesday has a mistake on it.
The U.S. Postal Service is honoring the life of the world-famous author and poet by creating a Forever stamp in her memory. Angelou鈥檚 portrait appears on the stamp alongside the quote: 鈥淎 bird doesn’t sing because it has an answer, it sings because it has a song.鈥�
But the quote isn鈥檛 hers.
Children鈥檚 book author Joan Walsh Anglund tells the , that phrase on the stamp is a nearly direct quote from her book 鈥淎 Cup of Sun,鈥� published in 1967 鈥� two years before Angelou鈥檚 autobiography, 鈥溾�業 Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” was released.
Jabari Asim, associate professor of writing, literature and publishing at Emerson College, tells 91欧美激情 he also recognized the quote when reading a news release about the Maya Angelou Forever Stamp announcement.
鈥淚 saw stamp and I saw the quote on it. It occurred to me pretty much immediately that it鈥檚 not a Maya Angelou quote,鈥� he says. 鈥淚t鈥檚 actually a Joan Walsh Anglund quote.鈥�
Postal Service spokesman Mark Saunders defends the quote.
鈥淢aya Angelou cited this sentence frequently in media interviews and other forums and it provides a connection to her first memoir 鈥業 Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.鈥� The sentence was chosen to accompany her image on the stamp to reflect her passion for the written and spoken word. The sentence held great meaning for her and she is publicly identified with its popularity,” Saunders says.
But Saunders could not provide 91欧美激情 with a list of dates or news outlets that attributed this quote to her.
鈥淚 don鈥檛 have access to that on Google,鈥� he writes in an email.
But Emerson College’s Asim says it鈥檚 a mistake the Postal Service shouldn鈥檛 have made.
鈥淏ut I don鈥檛 think the mistake should overshadow the initial impulse to honor Maya Angelou with a stamp, which I think is excellent. It鈥檚 just a little ironic because Maya Angelou is one of the most imminently quotable writers of the 20th century, without question. It鈥檚 very easy to stumble upon a quote that she actually said that would work very eloquently and persuasively on a stamp.鈥�
The Internet is full of misattributed quotes. Asim points to the saying 鈥淲e are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit鈥� 鈥� a quote frequently attributed to retired basketball star Shaquille O鈥橬eal. But for centuries before the advent of the Internet, it was attributed to the ancient philosopher Aristotle.
鈥淲e have to be really careful. Our intentions are often good and we make these mistakes because it鈥檚 so easy to cut and paste,鈥� Asim says.
Controversy also surrounded the when it was first built. Etched in the granite statue was a paraphrased quote that some critics said made the civil rights leader sound arrogant. That quote was later removed.
Asim wants the sentence on Angelou鈥檚 Forever Stamp to be changed out of respect for both women鈥檚 legacies.
鈥淚 think it鈥檚 important to put the right words on there. It could be as simple as 鈥楳aya Angelou: Phenomenal Woman,鈥� which is one of her most famous poems and also happens to describe her. Or just 鈥楳aya Angelou.鈥� I think that would be eloquent in itself.鈥�
The stamp was unveiled Tuesday morning in a ceremony at the Warner Theatre in D.C. Angelou died in 2014.
