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Quick Facts
- NAME: Maya Angelou
- OCCUPATION: Author, Poet
- BIRTH DATE: April 04, 1928 (Age: 84)
- EDUCATION: George Washington High School, California Labor School
- PLACE OF BIRTH: St. Louis, Missouri
- ZODIAC SIGN: Aries
Best Known For
Maya Angelou is a poet and prize winning autobiographical novelist. She is the author of the critically acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
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Maya Angelou - Mini Bio (4:06)
Maya Angelou. (2012). Biography.com. Retrieved 10:43, May 24, 2012 from http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388
Maya Angelou [Internet]. 2012. http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388, May 24
" Maya Angelou." 2012. Biography.com 24 May 2012, 10:43 http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388
' Maya Angelou', Biography.com,(2012) http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388 [accessed May 24, 2012]
" Maya Angelou," Biography.com, http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388 (accessed May 24, 2012).
Maya Angelou [Internet]. Biography.com; 2012 [cited 2012 May 24]. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388.
Maya Angelou, http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388 (last visited May 24, 2012).
Maya Angelou, http://www.biography.com/people/maya-angelou-9185388 (last visited May 24, 2012).
Synopsis
Writer and African American activist Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Maya Angelou's five autobiographical novels were met with critical and popular success. Her volume of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. In 1993, Angelou wrote a poem for Clinton's inauguration. In 2008, she earned a NAACP Award.
Quotes
"The caged bird sings with a fearful trill/ of things unknown but longed for still/ and his tune is heard on the distant hill/ for the caged birds sings of freedom."
"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver."
"If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude."
"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
"Words mean more than what is set down on paper. It takes the human voice to infuse them with deeper meaning."
" How important it is for us to recognize and celebrate our heroes and she-roes!"
Profile
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.
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View groupAfter the Civil War, many of the country's best and brightest black advocates, artists, entrepreneurs and intellectuals moved to the New York City neighborhood of Harlem. Thanks largely to the efforts of these residents, Harlem became both the cradle of a cultural revolution and the heart of the civil rights movement. Meet some of the many people who gave—and continue to give—this neighborhood a voice, simply by calling it home.
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View groupBrowse through prominent figures in African-American literature such as Maya Angelou, Langston Hughes, and Toni Morrison.
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