Maya's Life story Maya Angelou was born on April 4th 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, and
is still living today at the age of 85. Maya Angelou was raised in St. Louis and in Stamps Arkansas where she experienced a lot of discrimination because of being and African American but, she never was ashamed of her culture instead she was proud of it. As Maya started to become a teenager she started to take an interest in the arts and, was later on given a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor School. At the age of 14 she dropped out of school to become a cable car conductor and, she was the first female African American cable car conductor. Maya later went back to finish off high school and, a few weeks after graduation she gave birth to her son Guy. To support her son she worked as a waitress, and a cook. Since Maya had taken an interest in the arts in 1954 and 1955 she toured around Europe for a production of "Porgy and Bess". When she came back from her tour Maya started to learn and study modern dance with Martha Graham and, later on danced on many shows with Alvin Ailey. In, 1957 she recorded and released, her first album called "Calypso Lady". In 1958 Angelou started her writing career and, moved to New York to join the Harlem's Writer's Guild. The Harlem's Writer Guild was a group of African American writers and Maya Angelou acted in "The Blacks" written by one of the Harlem Guild writers. Afterwards, Maya wrote and, acted in "The Cabaret of Freedom". Later, on in 1960 she moved to Cairo, and she was the editor for "The Arab Observer". After about a year Maya moved to Ghana, where she became a professor and taught at The University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama. At the same time Maya was, the editor for "The African Review" and " Ghanaian Times". While, travelling around the world at this time Maya became fluent in the languages of: French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and, Fanti (an African language). When Maya was in Ghana she met Malcolm X and, returned with him to the U.S.A where they both started the Organization of African American Unity. Shortly, after Malcolm X was assassinated and, Angelou was devastated as they had a good friendship. Malcolm X's organization stopped after he was assassinated. Maya Angelou then met Martin Luther King Jr. and, asked her to become the Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. When, Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on Angelou's birthday she was left in shock and devastation. With the help of one of her friend James Baldwin (a novelist) she started to write her very 1st book called "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" which was published in 1970. Her book was a huge success and it was about the freedom of African American's and many of her past experiences. After, this book was released she started to write more books about her past discrimination and, her experiences. In 1972, Angelou wrote the screenplay and the score for the movie " Georgia". Angelou at the time was the first African American female to get her movie filmed and won the Pulitzer Prize. In 2008 Maya Angelou started to compose poetry about her past experiences as she did with her books. Maya has campaigned for 2 presidential committees and, was awarded the Presidential Award of Arts in 2000 and the Lincoln Medal in 2008. As well she has received 3 Grammy awards and has received over 30 honorary degrees. Bill Clinton had also requested Maya to read at his inauguration in 1993, where she read " On The Pulse of The Morning". Angelou is now a Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University. |