Running head: MAYA ANGELOU 1

Maya Angelou

Kala Penn

Professor

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 2

Maya Angelou born Marguerite Johnson on April 4th 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri

was a an author, poet, historian, songwriter, playwright, dancer, stage and screen producer,

director, performer, singer, and civil rights activist. At the advance age of 86 year she died

on May 28th 2014 in North Carolina of heart problems.

Leaving behind her legacy and a body of important artistic work that

influenced several generations. She was praised by people who knew her personally as a

good hearted soul and a woman that pushed for education, equality and justice. Before

becoming an influential iconic poet, writer and civil rights activist who collaborated with

Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X during the Civil Rights movement she lived and

undergone hardships, but had not let it destroy her, she prevailed. Angelou’s most famous

work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), covers her childhood (Poetry Foundation,

2018). At the tender age of 3 years old her parents divorced, Bailey Johnson and Vivian

Baxter Johnson who weren’t the best parents in the world, sent her and her brother to

Arkansas to live with their Grandmother Annie Henderson. Her grandma, who owned a

general store groomed and help her develop self-pride and confidence for 4 years. While

living in Arkansas she experienced firsthand racial discrimination and prejudice. At the age

of seven years old moving back with her mother in Missouri, she suffered at the hands of

her mother’s boyfriend who sexual molested her. Because of her close relationship with her

brother she confided in him, who then told the rest of the family. The man was found guilty

and sentenced for a day in prison. Days after his release she overheard the news that he

was killed probably by her uncles, she believed that she had caused the man's death by

speaking his name, she became mute for almost five years only talking to her brother. As

she stated, "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name and

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 3

then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone" (YouTube,

2010). She returned back to Arkansas in her grandmother’s care and attended public

schools (Notablebiographies.com, 2018). During this period of silence when Angelou

developed her extraordinary memory, her love for books and literature, and her ability to

listen and observe the world around her. From the attention and help of a concern lady by

the name Mrs. Flowers who came to her grandmother’s shop pushed and encouraged her to

gain her voice by reading her books and developed her love for poetry. She took her under

her wing according to Angelou stated in her book Why the Caged Bird Sings that she said to

her “Now no one is going to make you talk possibly no one can. But bear in mind, language

is man’s way of communicating with his fellow man and it is language alone which

separates him from the lower animals” (Angelou, 1969, 15.11) .It’s through the love of poet

she finally discovered the beauty and power of words. During World War II, Angelou moved

to San Francisco, California, where she won a scholarship to study dance and acting at the

California Labor School. While still in high school she became the first ever African

American female streetcar conductor in San Francisco, California. She gave birth to her son

at age sixteen. She supported herself and child as a waitress and cook. In 1950 she married

Tosh Angelos, a Greek sailor, but the marriage lasted only a few years. She later then went

on to pursue her dream as a performer, her career took off which landed her a role in a

touring production of Porgy and Bess, later appearing in the off-Broadway production

Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and releasing her first album, Miss Calypso (1957)

(Goodreads.com, 2018). In the late 1950s, Angelou joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where

she met a number of major African American authors, including James Baldwin, who would

go on to become her close friend and mentor. After hearing civil rights leader Dr. Martin

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 4

Luther King, Jr. speak for the first time in 1960, she joined the Civil Rights movement, going

on to organize on their behalf, and becoming Northern Coordinator of the Southern

Christian Leadership Conference at the request of Dr. King. During the early 1960s Angelou

briefly living first in Cairo, Egypt with Vusumzi Make, an exiled activist from South Africa as

at the weekly newspaper “The Arab Observer” and then in Ghana at the ‘African Review ,

working as an editor and a freelance writer with her son. In Ghana, Angelou met and

became close friends with Malcolm X and returned to the United States in 1964 with the

intention to help him build a new civil rights organization, the Organization of African

American Unity. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated,

and his organization was disbanded. She remained active in the Civil Rights Movement,

working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr, who was later on assassinated on her

birthday April 4, 1968 leaving her devastated (Academy of Achievement, 2018).

Later on with the guidance of her friend, James Baldwin, she began working on

the book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings her first series of autobiographical.

International bestseller and nominated for a National Book Award in 1970.

The successful book that tells the story of her life from her childhood in Arkansas to the

birth of her child it was published in 1970, which made literary history as the first

nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman and brought her international

recognition and acclaim. She went on to write seven autobiographical works. Angelou

published several collections of poetry, but her most famous and recognize work ‘Just Give

Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die’, published in 1971 was nominated for the Pulitzer

Prize (Poetry Foundation, 2018). Also being active in film and television. Angelou wrote the

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 5

Pulitzer-winning screenplay and composed the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia the first

screenplay written by a black woman (Biography, 2018). Angelou's fame bloomed in the

early 1990s at President Bill Clinton's inaugural ceremony in January 1993, Angelou was

invited to write and read the first inaugural recitation since 1961, when Robert Frost

delivered his poem "The Gift Outright" at President John F. Kennedy's inauguration.

Americans all across the country watched as she read "On the Pulse of Morning. The audio

version of the poem went on to win a Grammy Award for the best spoken word album

(Biography, 2018). For her contribution to arts and culture she was awarded by President

Bill Clinton in 2000 with the National Medal of Arts. Later on being awarded by President

Barack Obama the 2010 Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the

United States (En.wikipedia.org, 2018).

Maya Angelou became one of the most renowned and influential voices of our

time. With over 50 honorary doctorate degrees she was a celebrated poet, memoirist,

educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and civil rights activist. Maya

turned her tragedy into triumph. A national treasure that is now counted amongst the stars.

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 6

Reference

Poetry Foundation. (2018). Maya Angelou. [online] Available at:

https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poets/maya-angelou

Notablebiographies.com. (2018). Maya Angelou Biography - life, children, parents, name, story,

death, school, mother, young. [online] Available at: http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-

Ba/Angelou-Maya.html

Notablebiographies.com. (2018). Maya Angelou Biography - life, children, parents, name, story,

death, school, mother, young. [online] Available at: http://www.notablebiographies.com/An-

Ba/Angelou-Maya.html

YouTube. (2018). Maya Angelou: My Childhood. [online] Available at:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcwZm5WuKdQ\

Academy of Achievement. (2018). Maya Angelou - Academy of Achievement. [online] Available

at: http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/

Biography. (2018). Maya Angelou. [online] Available at:

https://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388

En.wikipedia.org. (2018). List of honors received by Maya Angelou. [online] Available at:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honors_received_by_Maya_Angelou

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
 MAYA ANGELOU 7

This study source was downloaded by 100000823370013 from CourseHero.com on 10-14-2022 08:50:01 GMT -05:00

https://www.coursehero.com/file/30119317/Maya-Angeloudocx/
Powered by TCPDF (www.tcpdf.org)