The Life of Maya Angelou
          By: Brittany Blackwell

               "His tune is heard on the distant hill for the caged bird sings of freedom, that was a line from the very famous, Caged Bird." Marguerite Johnson was born in a segregated area of St. Louis, Arkansas on April 4, 1928 After her parent’s divorce she and her brother, Bailey were sent to go live with their grandmother, Annie.  Annie made sure that the family went to church on a regular basis.  Marguerite and Bailey had a close relationship as children and Bailey was the person that gave Marguerite the name of “Maya”.

          On a visit to her mother’s, Angelou was raped at age seven by her mother’s boyfriend.  Angelou was very ashamed about this event and did not want to talk about it. One day her mother’s brother found out and he went and killed the man who raped Angelou.  After Angelou found out that her uncle killed the man, she did not want to talk, and she just became withdrawn.

  Later on in her life, she started reading work by William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar were her inspirations to write.    After Angelou finished middle school, she continued to work diligently.  While attending high school, she won a scholarship in dance and drama to California Labor School.  Then Angelou became San Francisco’s first African-American female streetcar conductor.  At the age of sixteen, Angelou gave birth to her son, Guy Johnson. At age 22, she married Tosh Angelou, though marriage didn’t last but a couple of years.  In order for Angelou to support Guy and herself, she had to get jobs as a waitress, cook, and a night club singer.

           Later on in her life, she started reading work by William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Paul Lawrence Dunbar.  Angelou became interested in writing, so she moved to New York and joined Harlem Writers Guild.  In 1960, Angelou and Guy moved to Egypt, where Angelou was an editor for Arab Observer.  Two years later, they moved to Ghana, where she worked for three years as a writer, and administrator for the University of Ghana, and as an editor for the African Review.  Later on in Angelou’s life, she read “ On the Pulse of Morning” Bill Clinton’s inauguration.  Angelou has written many poems that she has won many awards for. Angelou has earned The Ladies Home Journal Woman of the Year award, Matrix Award, The Golden Eagle Award and the International Woman of the year.     In 1981, she accepted a special job as a professor of American Studies at Wake Forest. Angelou is fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and Fanti.

Published Works:

·        Phenomenal Woman: Poems Celebrating Women/Cassette
Published 1995
 

·        All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes 
 Published 1991

·         And Still I Rise: Poems
 Published 1996

·        Bearing Witness: Contemporary Works by African American Women Artists
Published 1996

·        A Brave and Startling Truth
 Published 1995

·        The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
 Published 1994

·        Even the Stars Look Lonesome
Published 1997                                                              

·        Gather Together in My Name
 Published 1997

·        The Heart of a Woman
Published 1997

·        I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
 Published 1997

·        I Shall Not Be Moved
 Published 1991