Maya Angelou adds compromise line to black monument in Savannah

SAVANNAH - Poet and author Maya Angelou has ended a decade-long stalemate over a slavery monument by adding a single line to her quotation describing the brutal conditions aboard slave ships. <br> <br> The amended inscription for the monument, a bronze statue of a black family with broken chains at their feet, won unanimous approval by the Savannah City Council Thursday. <br> <br> The wording was one of the final hurdles for black leaders who plan to unveil the monument July 27 on Savannah&#39;s cobblestone riverfront, where the first slaves came into Georgia. <br> <br> Though city officials approved the statue last year, Mayor Floyd Adams and others cringed at black leaders&#39; insistence on using the graphic quote by Angelou. <br> <br> The quote reads: ``We were stolen, sold and bought together from the African continent. We got on the slave ships together. We lay back to belly in the holds of the slave ships in each others&#39; excrement and urine together, sometimes died together, and our lifeless bodies thrown overboard together.&#39;&#39; <br> <br> In a letter to the monument&#39;s planning committee, Angelou added an upbeat coda: ``Today, we are standing up together, with faith and even some joy ... &#39;&#39; <br> <br> Some city officials had worried that the quote might be too graphic for public display on the riverfront, one of the most popular tourist spots in Savannah. Black leaders say the stalemate over the quotation slowed their ability to raise money for the monument, which will cost up to $750,000.