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Biography: Life of Maya Angelou
Born 1928
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou spent her childhood moving between St. Louis where her mother lived and Stamps, Arkansas where she lived with her grandmother.
After working several menial jobs, in the 1950s Maya Angelou studied dancing in New York City and appeared in a number of Off-Broadway plays. She worked as an editor of The Arab Observer in Cairo, Egypt and taught music and drama in Ghana.
Maya Angelou became nationally known in 1970 with the publication of the first volume of her autobiography I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings which tells of her encounters with racism in the South and her rape at age eight.
Subsequent autobiographical works by Maya Angelou include: Gather Together in My Name (1974); Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas (1976); The Heart of a Woman (1981); All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1997); and A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002).
During her career Maya Angelou appeared on Broadway and produced and directed both her own work and the works of other writers. Maya Angelou was nominated for an Emmy Award for her performance in the television film Roots in 1977. She has lectured and taught at universities around the country and written and produced prize winning documentaries.
Maya Angelou is also the popular author of several collections of poetry. At the request of President Bill Clinton, Maya Angelou wrote and read her poem, On the Pulse of Morning, at his inauguration in 1993.
Maya Angelou, a true Renaissance woman, continues to be a remarkable writer of black literature.
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