Maya Angelou, born in 1928, American author, poet, performer, and
civil rights activist, best known for portrayals of strong African American
women in her writings. Characteristically using a first-person point of view
and the rhythms of folk song, she writes of the African American woman’s coming
of age, of struggles with discrimination, of the African and West Indian
cultural heritage, and of the acceptance of the past. In 1993 Angelou read her
poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the presidential inauguration of Bill
Clinton.
Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St.
Louis, Missouri. The child of divorce, she spent most of her childhood living
with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas, the place she calls her hometown.
After graduating with honors from Lafayette County Training School in 1940,
Angelou was reunited with her mother in San Francisco. At the age of 16 she
graduated from high school, gave birth to her son Guy, and began a series of
jobs, including cooking and waiting tables.
Angelou’s career in the arts began on the West Coast, as a calypso
performer and cabaret entertainer, and as a dancer in a touring company
production of Porgy and Bess. She adopted the stage name Maya Angelou in
1953. “Maya” was what her brother had called her as a child, and “Angelou” was
based on the last name of Tosh Angelos, whom she had married the year before.
Upon moving to New York City in the mid-1950s, she attended meetings of the
Harlem Writers Guild, won parts in the off-Broadway musical Calypso Heatwave
(1957) and the Jean Genet drama The Blacks (1961), and recorded an album
of calypso music. In 1960 she wrote and produced a revue entitled Freedom
Cabaret as a way of raising money for the civil rights movement.
Angelou began her writing career as a playwright and journalist,
receiving the attention and encouragement of writer James Baldwin and
cartoonist and playwright Jules Feiffer. In 1970 she published the first of her
autobiographical books, the popular and widely acclaimed I Know Why the
Caged Bird Sings. In it she describes her rape at the age of seven and
subsequent five years of self-imposed speechlessness. The series of
autobiographical books continues with 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
(1986), and A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002). These writings stress the
themes of courage, perseverance, self-acceptance, and the realization of an
individual’s full potential.
In 1971 Angelou published her first book of poetry, Just Give
Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Diiie. Subsequent poetry collections
include Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (1975), And Still I
Rise (1978), Shaker, Why Don’t You Sing? (1983), Now Sheba Sings
the Song (1987), I Shall Not Be Moved (1990), and Phenomenal
Woman (1994). The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou appeared
in 1994. Wouldn’t Take Nothing for My Journey Now, a book of
inspirational meditations on life, was published in 1993. A collection of
essays, Even the Stars Look Lonesome, appeared in 1997. In 2004 Angelou
published a cookbook with anecdotes from her past, Hallelujah! The Welcome
Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes.
Angelou has acted in several television broadcasts, including the
miniseries Roots (1977) and the weekly drama Touched by an Angel.
She has received many awards and honorary degrees, including Grammy Awards
(1994 and 1996) for her recordings of her poetry on the albums On the Pulse
of Morning (1993) and Phenomenal Woman (1995). In 1998 Angelou made
her directing debut with the release of the motion picture Down in the
Delta. The film is about a troubled woman who returns to the home of her
ancestors in the Mississippi Delta.
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Writers And Poets
