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[encourageyourneighbor]

MAYA ANGELOU

Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis Missouri on  April 4th, 1928. She was an American poet, memoirist, civil rights activist among many other titles. Angelou had a career as a singer, dancer, actress, and composer but became most famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet.

As a civil rights activist, she worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.  In 2000, she was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton and in 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.

Angelou’s most famous work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), deals with her early years in Long Beach, St. Louis where she lived with her brother and paternal grandmother.  She describes how she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend when she was seven years old. When the man was murdered for his crime, Angelou felt responsible and stopped talking. She remained mute for five years but developed a love for language.  

I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became very popular and was on The New York Times bestseller list for two years. It made Maya an international star and allowed her to write full time.

In 1981, Angelou returned to the South, where she became the Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. In 1993, she recited her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. She received a Tony Award nomination for her role in the 1973 Broadway play Look Away, Angelou was granted three Grammy Awards for her spoken-word albums and an Emmy for her supporting role in the television miniseries "Roots." In 1998, Angelou was inducted into the National Women's Hall of Fame. She was the recipient of the National Medal of Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008. Later in life, Angelou divided her time between Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and Harlem, New York. She had one son, two grandsons, and two great-grandchildren. Maya Angelou passed away on May 28, 2014, at the age of 86.