Writer, poet, performer, and director. Born Marguerite Johnson, on
April 4, 1928,
in St Louis, Missouri. Ms. Angelou's brother Bailey gave her the nickname "Maya".
In the mid-1930's , at the age of eight Maya was raped by her mothers boyfriend.
A few days later she was forced to testify at his trial, her rapist
was found beaten to death in an alley. Traumatized by the whole experience,
Ms. Angelou stopped speaking altogether.
Through her study of writing, literature, and music, she gained the
will to speak again, and by the age of 12, she became known for her precocious
intelligence.
While attending high school, she won a
scholarship in dance and drama to the California Labor School.
In
addition to her studies, Maya Angelou worked to earn money, becoming San Francisco's first African-American
and first female streetcar conductor.
In the early 1950's, Ms. Angelou was married to a Greek-born former sailor,
Tosh Angelos, she took a variation of his name as her stage name for her debut appearance
as a dancer and singer of West India calypso music in a San Francisco cabaret.
Maya Angelou has one son, Guy. She has seen and lived
through adversity, tragedies, serious
injuries to her son and the assassinations of two of her close friends, Malcolm X and Martin L. King, Jr. She endured
and prevailed.
She gained worldwide renown as a poet, was nominated
for a Pulitzer Prize in 1971 for her first volume of verses, entitled
JUST GIVE ME A COOL DRINK OF WATER 'FORE I DIIIE.
Ms. Angelou has been presented with over 50 honorary degrees at different institutions.
In 1981, she accepted a special lifetime appointment as a professor
of American Studies at Wake Forest University
in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and the West African language of Fanti.
Ms. Angelou's accomplishments have earned her the La Home Journal Woman of the Year award in communication, Matrix Award in the field of books from Women in Communication. The Golden Eagle Award for her documentary, Americans in the Arts, produced by PBS. In 1974, she was appointed by Gerald Ford to the Bi-Centennial Commission and later by Jimmie Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year.
For more information about the life of Maya Angelou check these site:
Voices From The Gaps -women writers of color and
www.homearts.com/depts/family/mayaf1.htm.
The see forever Project, http://www.seeforever.org.
