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Short Biography of Maya Angelou
Date of Birth: Born on April 4, 1928
Place of Birth : Saint Louis, Missouri
Parents: Father - Bailey Johnson
Mother:
Vivian Baxter Johnson
Background Facts, Information & Ancestry :
Maya was descended from the Mende people of West
Africa. Her brother, Bailey Jr., gave her the
nickname "Maya".
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1928 |
April 4, 1928 - Her timeline
begins when Maya was born as Marguerite Ann Johnson
in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Bailey
and Vivian Baxter Johnson |
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1931 |
Her parents marriage ended and
Maya and her brother were sent to live with her
father's mother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, in Stamps,
Arkansas |
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1935 |
The children were returned to
the care of their mother in St. Louis |
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1937 |
Maya was sexually abused and
raped by her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. The
shock made Maya mute and the children were sent back
to live with their grandmother once again |
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1941 |
Maya and her brother returned
to live with her mother in San Francisco where she
attended George Washington High School and studied
dance and drama on a scholarship at the California
Labor School |
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1942 |
Teacher Bertha Flowers helped
Maya to talk again and encouraged her interest in
literature |
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1942 |
She dropped out of school in
her teens to become San Francisco's first African
American female cable car conductor |
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1943 |
Maya returned to high school,
but became pregnant and graduated a few weeks before
giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home to bring
up her son as a single mother working as a waitress
and cook |
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1952 |
She married a Greek sailor
named Tosh Angelos but the marriage quickly failed |
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1952 |
She began her career as a
nightclub singer and during this time took the name
Maya Angelou |
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1954/5 |
Toured in a production of
Porgy and Bess |
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1957 |
Recorded the album called
Calypso Lady |
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1958 |
Developed her skills in
writing poetry and moved to New York, where she
joined the Harlem Writers Guild |
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1959 |
Became involved with Civil
Rights Activists |
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1959 |
At the request of Dr. Martin
Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern
coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. |
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1960 |
She met the South African
civil rights activist Vusumzi Make and in 1960, the
couple and Guy moved, to Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo,
Maya Angelou worked as editor of the English
language weekly The Arab Observer. She later moved
to Ghana |
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1964 |
Returned to America hoping to
help Malcolm X build his new Organization of African
American Unity |
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1968 |
Malcolm X is assassinated and
Maya began working on her Autobiographical book 'I
Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'
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1970 |
I Know Why the Caged Bird
Sings is published |
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1973 |
Maya Angelou married Paul du
Feu and moved with him and her son to Sonoma,
California. She then worked on her writing and
acting |
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1974 |
Published Gather Together in
My Name |
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1976 |
Published Singin’ and Swingin’
and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas |
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1981 |
She divorced Paul du Feu |
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1981 |
Published The Heart of a Woman |
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1984 |
Met Oprah Winfrey and became
her friend and mentor |
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1993 |
Maya Angelou reads her poem On
the Pulse of Morning at inauguration of President
Bill Clinton |
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1997 |
Published All God’s Children
Need Traveling Shoes |
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2002 |
Published A Song Flung Up to
Heaven |
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1970 |
Receives the Chubb Fellowship
Award, Yale University |
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1972 |
Receives the Pulitzer Prize
Nomination for Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water
'Fore I Die |
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1976 |
Receives the Ladies' Home
Journal Award ("Woman of the Year in Communication") |
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1977 |
Receives the Golden Eagle
Award, Afro-American in the Arts |
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1986 |
Receives Fulbright Program
40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer award |
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1991 |
Receives Langston Hughes Medal |
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1993 |
Grammy for "Best Spoken Word
Album," "On The Pulse of Morning," |
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1996 |
Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy
Association National Award |
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2006 |
Receives Mother Teresa Award |
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2006 |
Maya Angelou became a radio
talk show host for the first time hosting a weekly
show for XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends
channel |
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2008 |
Becomes the first recipient of
Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award
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