Maya Angelou – Allison Bloomberg
Maya Angelou was born by the name Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. She was raised by her grandmother, and lived with her brother and Uncle. Maya Angelou learned a lot from her grandmother, and she played a huge role in Maya Angelou’s life. Maya and her brother went between her mother and fathers houses, and within that time, Maya was unfortunately molested by her mother’s friend at the age of 8. Maya Angelou loved the arts, and won a scholarship to study drama and dance at San Francisco’s Labor School. She finished high school and a few weeks after graduation, gave birth to her son Guy. She supported her family by working as a waitress, but her love for the arts would soon take over. Maya Angelou’s life paralleled to a life of single-parenting, overcoming poverty, racism, seeking higher education, and being active in the Civil Rights Movement.
Maya Angelou joined the Harlem Writers Guild in the late 1950’s. She then began working on her book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” which was published in 1970. Her book made the bestseller list, as well as earned international praise. Including “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” Maya Angelou has written 36 books, and over 30 making it on the bestseller list.
Maya Angelou also had a love for music. She would sing calypso, dance in clubs, and discovered her ability to write lyrics and preform spoken word. Maya Angelou has also won 3 Grammys. Maya Angelou was also involved in television. She wrote a screenplay and composed the score for the 1972 film “Georgia, Georgia.” Her script was the first script by an African American women ever to be filmed, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. Maya Angelou also was filmed in other films and directed her first feature film, “Down in the Delta.”
In 1960 she moved to Cairo, Egypt where she was an editor for a newspaper. The following year she moved to Ghana where she taught at The University of Ghana’s School of Music and Drama. While in Ghana she met with Malcom X and in 1964 she moved back to America to help him develop his new Organization of African American Unity. Shortly after, Malcom X was assassinated and the organization broke. Meanwhile, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. asked Angelou to be the Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. She was still involved in Civil Rights and is widely recognized internationally for her work. She was awarded the Presidential Medal of Arts in 2000, and in the same year also received the National Medal of Arts. In 2010, President Obama presented the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She was also the second poet to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration. Maya Angelou passed away at the age of 86, on May 28, 2014, in her home in Salem, North Carolina. Her agent says that she was frail and had been suffering from heart problems. Her legacy will live on forever.
Poetry: 1950's and 1960's 