Maya Angelou

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American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist

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Native name
Born	Marguerite Annie Johnson (1928-04-04)April 4, 1928 St. Louis, Missouri, U.S.
Died	May 28, 2014(2014-05-28) (aged 86) Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S.
Resting place
Pen name
Nickname
Occupation	Poet, memoirist, civil rights activist
Language
Nationality	American

Maya Angelou (born Marguerite Annie Johnson; April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees. Angelou is best known for her series of seven autobiographies, which focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

Early life

Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. Her parents, Bailey Johnson and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, split up when she was very young, and she and her older brother, Bailey Jr., were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Angelou experienced firsthand racial prejudices and discrimination in Arkansas. At the age of eight, she was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend. She told her brother, who told the rest of the family. The man was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles. Angelou became mute for almost five years, believing that her voice had killed the man.

Career

Angelou's career spanned several decades and included work as a poet, memoirist, and civil rights activist. In the 1950s, she toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. She studied modern dance with Martha Graham, danced with Alvin Ailey, and performed in off-Broadway productions. In 1957, she recorded her first album, Calypso Lady.

In 1960, she moved to Cairo, where she worked as an editor for The Arab Observer. The next year, she moved to Ghana, where she taught at the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama, worked as a feature editor for The African Review, and wrote for The Ghanaian Times. During her years abroad, she read and studied voraciously, mastering French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and the West African language Fanti.

Civil Rights Movement

Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with both Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. In 1964, she helped Malcolm X set up the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which disbanded after his assassination. In 1968, Martin Luther King Jr. asked Angelou to organize a march. She agreed, but before the march could take place, King was assassinated on her birthday (April 4). Devastated by his death, she was encouraged by her friend, novelist James Baldwin, to write about her life, resulting in her first autobiography, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Later years and legacy

In the 1980s, Angelou returned to the United States and took on a teaching position at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she was the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies. She continued to write and lecture into her 80s, and she was active in the Civil Rights Movement and other social causes until her death.

Angelou's work has had a lasting impact on American culture and literature. Her autobiographies, especially I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, have been used in schools and universities around the world. Her poetry, including works like And Still I Rise and Phenomenal Woman, continues to inspire readers.

Selected works

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969)
• Gather Together in My Name (1974)
• Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas (1976)
• The Heart of a Woman (1981)
• All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986)
• A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002)
• Mom & Me & Mom (2013)

Related pages

• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
• Civil Rights Movement
• Martin Luther King Jr.
• Malcolm X
• James Baldwin
• Wake Forest University