I Am a Christian

Glurge:   Maya Angelou wrote an inspirational religious poem entitled “I Am a Christian.”

FALSE

Example:   [Collected via e-mail, 2006]

Origins:   Dr. Maya Angelou, who passed away in May 2014, became one of those figures (à la Mark Twain or Abraham Lincoln) who ended up with

more of other people’s words attributed to her than words of her own. (As we note in another article dealing with an apocryphal poem erroneously attributed to her, many Internet-circulated bits of verse lacking authorship identification eventually become credited to Dr. Angelou, especially light-hearted inspirational pieces and/or poems written from an African-American point of view.) In this case, we not only know that Maya Angelou did not write I Am a Christian (she disclaimed it on her web site), we know exactly who did write it.

“When I Say, ‘I Am a Christian'” (the correct, full title) was penned in 1988 by Carol Wimmer, was first published in the Assemblies of God periodical Hi-Call Gospel Magazine, and has subsequently been anthologized in several books (including Chicken Soup for the Christian Family Soul.) Unfortunately, over the years the work has been reprinted on the Internet with either missing or incorrect attributions (most often being ascribed to “author unknown” or the aforementioned Maya Angelou), and with verses that have been rearranged or altered by others.

The original version of the poem read as follows:

Additional information:

History of the Poem (carolwimmer.com)

Last updated:   28 May 2014