Maya Angelou

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” - I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

     Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. She and her older brother, Bailey Jr, who nicknamed her Maya, were born to Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. She was a poet, author, civil rights activist, and director.

She published seven autobiographies that focus on her childhood and adult life. Her most popular book was the first of the seven, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and chronicles her life from age 3 until 16 - when she became a mother. This installment covers topics of Racism, Jim Crow, the post-Reconstruction era, segregation, identity, belonging, and religion.

At ages three and four, her parents’ marriage ended and Maya and her brother were sent to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their paternal grandmother. Their grandmother owned a general store that was the center of the black community in Stamps. A few years later, when Maya was seven, her father pulled them from Stamps and sent them to live with their mother who she considers a stranger. While in her mother’s custody, May was sexually abused and raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. Maya testified against Freeman and recounted some of his abuse. When Freeman was released from prison, he was murdered four days later - presumably by her uncles. Believing that her voice caused a man’s death, she became mute for six years. During her youth, she also struggled with her appearance and self- confidence, describing herself as being too big with skinny legs, broad feet, nappy hair, and a huge gap between her teeth.

In 1961, she and her son moved with her partner, South African civil rights activist and lawyer, Vusumzi Make, to Cairo where Maya worked as the associate editor of the English-language paper, The Arab Observer. In 1962, she and Guy moved to Accra, Ghana and lived there until 1965. In Accra, she became friends with Malcom X. Angelou returned to the U.S. to help him build a new civil rights organization, the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU). Angelou returned to New York on February 19, 29165. Malcom X was assassinated two days later and the OAAU folded.  

In 1968, she created a 10-part series called Black, Blues, Black! Which explores the influence of African American culture on modern American society.

In 1972, she became the first African American woman to have her screen play turned into a film with the production of Georgia, Georgia.

She wrote numerous volumes of poetry and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for the piece Just Give me a Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (1971). She delivered this poem at President Bill Clinton’s 1993 inauguration. Clinton later awarded her the National Medal of Arts in 2000.

Important Works: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), Gather Together in My Name (1974), Signin’ and Swinging’ 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), Mom & Me & Mom (2013)

‍Resources/References: Poetry Foundation Black, Blues, Black! (1), Black, Blues, Black! (2), Cambridge University Press