Biography
Maya Angelou was an African American poet whose birth name was Marguerite Annie Johnson. She was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, U.S. and died on May 28, 2014 in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, U.S. at the age of 86. She had been suffering from health issues and pain for a couple of years before her death. She had a difficult and traumatic childhood due to a few events. Her parents got divorced so her and her older brother Bailey Jr, moved to live with their grandma then moved back to live with their mum, then again moving to live with their grandma until ultimately moving back to live with their mum. While living with her grandma in Arkansas, she was faced with discrimination and racism because she was an African American. When she was 8 years old, she was raped by her mum's boyfriend. As revenge for her sexual abuse, one of her uncles killed him. The repercussion of this event was that she refused to talk and became a mute for around 5 years. She had a son called Guy Johnson, who she gave birth to at the young age of 17.
(Picture of Maya Angelou when she was young)
She has written: autobiographies, poetry, personal essays, cookbooks and children's books. The context in which her autobiographies and most of her poems were written in was from personal experience. As she had experienced a lot throughout her life, she responded to it by writing about them in the form of autobiographies and poems. Some of the themes that were in her work were: family, racism, travel and identity. The genre of her work has been described as autobiography but also as autobiographical fiction because she has interpreted fiction into some of her work. Because of all the work she has done and the subjects discussed in them, she has been influential and considered a defense of black culture and a representative for black people and women. She has made a difference and is still known today and an example of how well known, important, inspirational and influential she was, many well-known people/celebrities tweeted their favourite quote or paid respect to her on twitter and other social media. Some of these people were: President Obama, author J.K Rowling, Oprah Winfrey, singer Beyoncé, singer Pharell Williams, actor Neil Patrick Harris, singer MC Hammer, talk show host Ellen DeGeneres, author John Green, singer Rihanna and many many more.
(Some tweets made by celebrities honouring Maya Angelou after she died)
She has also made spoken word albums which are her poems being read aloud and also sung. She has received around 50 awards and many nominations including: a Pulitzer nomination, Tony Award nomination, 3 Grammys, Matrix Award, National Medal of Arts, Mother Teresa Award, Presidential Medal of Freedom, Literarian Award, etc. She has also received numerous honorary degrees and is in the St. Louis Walk of Fame and National Women's Hall of Fame.
(Picture of President Obama giving Maya Angelou the Presidential Medal of Freedom)
She had done a couple of jobs before she became a poet and those were: fry cook, prostitute, nightclub dancer and performer, coordinator, journalist, actor, writer, director, producer of plays, movies and public television programs. She took part in the Civil Rights movement which acquainted her with two of the most influential people for black rights in history, Martin Luther King Jr and Malcolm X. Martin Luther King Jr got assassinated tragically on April 4, 1968 which is the same day as Maya Angelou's birthday. As her and Martin Luther King Jr were really close and good friends, on her birthday she sent flowers to his widow every year until his widow died. She also for a couple years didn't celebrate her birthday. Another extremely well known influential African American she was friends with was Oprah Winfrey. She recited one of her poems (On the Pulse of Morning) at the inauguration of the 42nd President of the United States, President Bill Clinton.
(Video of Maya Angelou reciting ''On the Pulse of Morning'' at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton)