Maya Angelou

Born:

Marguerite Annie Johnson, April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri

Died:

May 28, 2014, Winston-Salem, North Carolina

Nationality:

American

Profession(s):

Author, Poet, Memoirist, Civil Rights Activist

Early Life and Education

• Experienced a traumatic childhood, including being sexually assaulted at age seven.
• Spent much of her early years with her grandmother, Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.
• Briefly lived with her mother in St. Louis.
• Overcame selective mutism following her assault, finding solace in literature.
• Attended George Washington High School in San Francisco, California, where she studied dance and drama.
• Became San Francisco's first African-American female streetcar conductor.

Career and Major Achievements

• Joined the Harlem Writers Guild in the 1950s.
• Worked as a singer, dancer, actress, and journalist.
• Served as a northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC).
• Lived in Egypt and Ghana, working as a journalist.
• Delivered her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at President Bill Clinton's 1993 inauguration.
• Received numerous honorary degrees and awards.

Notable Works

Publications

• 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)

Filmography

Legacy and Impact

Maya Angelou's impact is significant, with her autobiographical works, poems, and activism providing profound insights into the African American experience and inspiring generations to overcome adversity and fight for equality. The study of maya angelou childhood biography and her subsequent life demonstrates her resilience and literary genius.

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