Maya Angelou
The beloved Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson. She was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She got the name Maya from her brother Bailey who used say that’s “My-a” sister. It’s safe to say the name grew on her, as that became her preferred name. Maya’s parents split while she was young, and her father took her and her brother to live with their grandmother in Arkansas. There she experienced discrimination and prejudices while there. Her father came to get them and took them back to St. Louis with their mother. This is when Angelou was molested by her mother’s boyfriend. She told her brother, and he told others in the family. When the men in her family found out about this, they murdered the boyfriend. Maya became quiet after the incident, as she felt responsible for his death because of her voice. Shortly after, her brother and her relocated back to Arkansas with their grandmother. It wasn’t until an encounter with an English teacher led her to speaking again. She challenged her with the introduction to great authors, and exclaimed, Maya “didn’t love poetry, not until you speak.”
Angelou went to high school high school in California. She became pregnant while in high school and started working jobs to provide for her and her son. Angelou was the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco. A few months after receiving her high school diploma, she gave birth to her son. Angelou took on several jobs to provider for her and her son, from prostitution to being a professional dancer, actor, and singer. Her abilities allowed her tour throughout Europe in the production of Porgy and Bess. She was later able to perform Calypso Heat Wave in the off-Broadway production. Using her popularity, she produced the album “Miss Calypso,” which was reissued as a CD in 1996.
In 1959 Angelou met novelist John Oliver Killens, who convinced her to move to New York to concentrate on her writing career. There she joined the Harlem Writers Guild and met major African American authors like John Henrik Clarke. In 1960, Angelou met and heard Dr. King speak, which led her and Killens to organize the Cabaret for Freedom to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). This act resulted in her being named the SCLC’s Northern Coordinator. She helped fundraise and organize many events.
Thus far we have covered Angelou as the first black streetcar conductor in San Francisco, she was a professional dancer and singer, she also participated in the civil rights movement. Angelou was also an actress, in 1961 she performed in “The Blacks” with big name stars like James Earl Jones, Godfrey Cambridge, and Cicely Tyson. In the same year, she moved to Cairo, South Africa and the following year Accra, Ghana, where she stayed for three years. While in Africa she was an editor for The African Review, and a freelance writer for the Ghanaian Times. She also wrote and broadcast for Radio Ghana and worked and performed for Ghana’s National Theatre. During her time in Ghana, Angelou met and became close friends with Malcolm X during his visit to Africa. They became close friends as they both joined a community of “Revolutionist Returnees” learning about Pan-Africanism. Together they set up an organization of Afro-American Unity which didn’t come to fruition as Malcolm X was assassinated the next year.
In 1969 Angelou published her first autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” In 1973 Angelou earned an Tony Award for her role in the play “Look Away” and an Emmy Award nomination for her work on the TV miniseries Roots (1977). U.S. In 1993 Angelou recited her poem “ON the Pulse of Morning” at the presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton. Angelou continued to dedicate her life to the people, even helped with Democratic campaign in 2008. Unfortunately, in 2014 on May 28, Ms. Maya Angelou succumbed to ongoing health issues.
Thank you, Maya Angelou for your contributions to the culture!