Maya Angelou Biography

original name Marguerite Johnson

(1928–)

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Related Works

  • AUTOBIOGRAPHIES
  • 2008 Letter to My Daughter
    2004 - Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes
    2002 - A Song Flung Up to Heaven
    1986 - All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
    1981 - Heart of a Woman
    1976 - Singin' and Swingin and Getting Merry Like Christmas
    1974 - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
    1970 - Gather Together in My Name
  • PERSONAL ESSAYS
  • 1997 - Even the Stars Look Lonesome
    1993 - Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now
  • CHILDREN'S BOOKS
  • 1996 - Kofi and His Magic
    1994 - My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me
    1993 - Life Doesn't Frighten Me
  • POETRY
  • 1995 - A Brave Startling Truth
    1995 - Phenomenal Woman
    1994 - The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou
    1993 - On The Pulse Of Morning
    1990 - I Shall Not Be Moved
    1987 - Now Sheba Sings The Song
    1983 - Shaker, Why Don't You Sing
    1978 - And Still I Rise
    1975 - Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well
    1971 - Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie
  • FILMS
  • I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings
    How To Make An American Quilt
    Down In The Delta
  • RECORDINGS & SCORES
  • Miss Calypso
» More

Related People

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Maya Angelou

Writer, dancer, African-American activist. Born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou spent her difficult formative years moving back and forth between her mother's and grandmother's. At age eight, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend, who was subsequently killed by her uncles. The event caused the young girl to go mute for nearly six years, and her teens and early twenties were spent as a dancer, filled with isolation and experimentation.

At 16 she gave birth to a son, Guy, after which she toured Europe and Africa in the musical Porgy and Bess. On returning to New York City in the 1960s, she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and became involved in black activism. She then spent several years in Ghana as editor of African Review, where she began to take her life, her activism and her writing more seriously.

Maya Angelou's five-volume autobiography commenced with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings in 1970. The memoirs chronicle different eras of her life and were met with critical and popular success. Later books include All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986) and My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken and Me (1994). She has published several volumes of verse, including And Still I Rise (1987) and Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou (1995). Her volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die (1971), was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize.

In 1993, Angelou read On the Pulse of Morning at Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration, a poem written at his request. It was only the second time a poet had been asked to read at an inauguration, the first being Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Kennedy. In 2006, Angelou agreed to host a weekly radio show on XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends channel. She also teaches at Wake Forest University in North Carolina, where she has a lifetime position as the Reynolds professor of American studies.

Drawing from her own life experiences, Angelou published Letter to My Daughter in 2008. She wrote the work for the daughter she never had, sharing anecdotes and offering advice. Well received, the book earned several honors, including a NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work-Non-Fiction.

WATCH MORE THAN AN HOUR'S WORTH OF INTERVIEWS OF MAYA ANGELOU speaking on such topics as her Childhood, The Civil Rights Movement, Martin Luther King, Jr., The JFK Assassination, Marilyn Monroe, Rosa Parks, The Space Race, and more.

© 2009 A&E Television Networks. All rights reserved

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