Died: May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina
Best known for: Her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Biography:
Where did Maya Angelou grow up?
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her closest family member and friend growing up was her older brother Bailey. When Maya was three years old, she went to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya and her four year old brother traveled to Arkansas all by themselves on a train.
While living with her grandmother, Maya's uncle taught her to read. Maya was a smart girl who loved to read. Her favorite thing in the world was books and the stories they told her.
When Maya was still a baby, her brother Bailey called her "My Sister." However, it came out like "Maya Sister." Eventually, he just started calling her "Maya" and the nickname stuck. She got the last name "Angelou" from her first husband.
Maya is Hurt
When Maya was seven, she moved back to St. Louis to live with her mother. While living there, her mother's boyfriend hurt Maya very badly. Not long after telling her mother about it, the boyfriend was shot and killed. Maya thought that she had caused the man's death with her voice. She felt so bad that she didn't speak for the next five years.
Early Career
Maya continued to move around the country. She graduated from high school in California and then began to work a variety of jobs including fry cook, waitress, cable-car conductor, and dancer. Maya was a talented dancer, singer, and actress. She became fairly famous for her acting and even toured Europe as part of the cast of the opera Porgy and Bess.
Civil Rights Activist
During the 1960s, Maya worked as a civil rights activist. She first worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. and became the Northern coordinator for his organization, the SCLC. Later, she worked for Malcolm X, but was devastated when he was assassinated. She continued to work for the rights of African-Americans and women throughout her career.
Becoming a Famous Writer
Although Maya had a lot of interests and careers, her true love was writing. She always worked on and off as a writer. At first, she considered herself a playwright and a poet, but that changed in 1968 when she attended a dinner party. At the party, Maya told some stories from her early life. Some people at the party encouraged her to write her story.
In 1969, Maya published her first autobiography called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The book tells the story of her life up until the age of seventeen. In the book, Maya captures the many struggles she went through growing up as an African-American woman in the mid-1900s. She also shows how she overcame these issues through character, books, and words.
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became a huge success and was on The New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. It made Maya an international star and allowed her to write full time.
Maya Angelou at President Bill Clinton's inauguration from the Clinton Library
Famous Works
Some of Maya Angelou's most famous works include:
Autobiographies
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
Gather Together in My Name
Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas
Poet, dancer, singer, activist, and scholar Maya Angelou was a world-famous author. She was best known for her unique and pioneering autobiographical writing style. On April 4, 1928, Marguerite Ann Johnson, known to the world as Maya Angelou, was born in St. Louis, Missouri.
Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood's first female black director, but became most famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.
Angelou married three times in her life. The first, to Greek carpenter Tosh Angelos (1949-52), the second to South African activist Vusumzi L. Make (1960-63) and the third to carpenter Paul du Feu (1973-80).
She was hailed as an internationally regarded figure for her role as a civil rights leader who fought for social and racial justice. Angelou resided in Winston-Salem, North Carolina for over thirty years.
After experiencing health issues for a number of years, Angelou died on May 28, 2014, at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She was 86 years old. A specific cause of death wasn't given, but Angelou's literary agent, Helen Brann, said that she had been “frail” and suffering from heart problems.
After completing college in Ghana, Guy Johnson managed a bar on Spain's Costa del Sol, ran a photo-safari service from London through Morocco and Algeria, and worked on oil rigs in Kuwait. Most recently he worked in the local government of Oakland, California, for more than twenty years. ...
Four years later, when Angelou was seven and her brother eight, the children's father "came to Stamps without warning" and returned them to their mother's care in St. Louis. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman.
In 1952, she married a Greek sailor named Anastasios Angelopulos. When she began her career as a nightclub singer, she took the professional name Maya Angelou, combining her childhood nickname with a form of her husband's name. Although the marriage did not last, her performing career flourished.
After being raped by her mother's boyfriend, she withdrew and was mute for five years. However, encouraged by her grandmother, who introduced her to literature, she gradually emerged as a talented artist.
Angelou has received more than 30 honorary degrees and has been inducted into the Wake Forest University Hall of Fame for Writers. In 2010 President Obama awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the United States' highest civilian honor.
I grew up in her light.” Guy Johnson, Maya Angelou's son. It has been a year since Maya Angelou's only son, Guy Johnson, passed. We continue to grieve and celebrate their lives and reflect on their bond. Not only did Maya Angelou's son grow up in his mother's light, but he was nourished by her words.
A poet, singer, autobiographer, and civil rights activist, Maya Angelou inspires us with both the beauty and the call to action of her words. Her most famous work is I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, an autobiography about her childhood. The book is a testament to the need for resilience in the face of discrimination.
Maya Angelou was a U.S. writer, performer, and professor. She was best known for her poetry and several books based on her life, especially I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970).
As a result of this, some of the words which can be used to describe her include positive, courageous, passionate and dogged as she has shown throughout the years that she was not afraid of saying the truth and doing the right thing.
Angelou's writings have altered society for the better, bringing greater diversity into the theater and literature. Her autobiographical works provide powerful insights into the evolution of Black women in the 20th century.
Introduction: My name is Fr. Dewey Fisher, I am a powerful, open, faithful, combative, spotless, faithful, fair person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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