The Life of Maya Angelou

Trigger Warning: Mentions of rape.

Maya Angelou was a poet and civil rights activist, best known for her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. She is also known for being an actress, singer, writer, and dancer. Over her lifetime, she ended up receiving over 50 honorary degrees, the Presidential Medal of Arts, and the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928. She was born in St. Louis; her parents, Bailey Jhonson and Vivian Baxter, got divorced when she was only three years old. Because of this, she grew up in Arkansas with her grandmother, Annie Henderson. Before the age of eight, she had

been raped by her mother's boyfriend. After she spoke up about it, he was killed, likely by her uncles. After this series of traumatic events, Maya had gone mute for several years, and by the time she was 16, she gave birth to Guy Jhonson. 

In 1940, she moved to San Francisco with her mother, where she worked as a cocktail waitress, prostitute, cook, and dancer. As a dancer, she obtained her professional name Maya Angelou. This was from her childhood name, Maya, and a variation of her husband's surname, Angelou. 

In 1956, she released an album of songs named Miss Calypso. In the late 1950’s, she moved to New York City. There, she began to have literary encouragement; at the same time, she got a role in the folk opera Porgy and Bess. With this opera, she was able to travel to 22 different countries across Europe and Africa.

 In 1961, she performed in the play The Blacks; that same year, she met Vusumzi Make, and they later moved to Cairo. In Cairo, Maya started working for the Arab Observer. Shortly after, she moved to Ghana and worked for The African Review. 

In 1966, she moved back to California and wrote the 10-part television series Black, Blues, Black that aired in 1968. This series was about African culture while living in America. Around this time, her first book, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was nominated for a National Book Award in 1970. Today, the book remains known as a national classic of African American literature. She later also wrote the movie Georgia, Georgia was released in 1972. With this movie, she became the first African American woman to have a screenplay made as a feature film. 

In 1979, her famous book became a movie. Maya also later went on to become an actress in Poetic Justice, How to Make an American Quilt, and Roots. She became more involved in writing poetry and wrote several poems such as Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie, Still I Rise, and Now Sheba Sings the Song. Due to her astounding poetry, she received three Grammy Awards for spoken albums, one of which included Phenomenal Woman. 

She also later wrote meditation books, children's books, and autobiographies, with some stories being published in 2005. Maya was also friends with many other activists and civil rights leaders. Later on, she even worked with Martin Luther King Jr. and helped him with coordinating the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Maya died on May 28th, 2014, and wrote her last poem His Day is Gone in 2013. 

Works Cited

Britannica. “Maya Angelou | Biography, Books, Poems, & Facts.” Encyclopædia Britannica, 2 Nov. 2018, www.britannica.com/biography/Maya-Angelou.

National women's hall of fame. “Angelou, Maya.” National Women’s Hall of Fame, www.womenofthehall.org/inductee/maya-angelou/.

Spring, Kelly. “Maya Angelou.” National Women’s History Museum, National Women’s History Museum, Dec. 2021, www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maya-angelou.