Life in the Arts

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A hard childhood experience spurred Maya Angelou to be a writer and civil rights activist. She became the first in a wide variety of fields because she was the first African American or woman to do something which showed how the civil rights movement was progressing. Maya Angelou born with the name Marguerite Johnson took her professional pseudonym from her childhood nickname given by her brother and her first husband’s last name. She was poet, novelist, songwriter, play writer, dancer, stage and screen producer, director, performer, singer, and civil rights activists (“Maya Angelou” Poests.org 1). She is best known for her autobiographies.
Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. Her parents divorced when she was three which led to Maya and her brother moving to Stamps, Arkansas to live with her grandmother, Annie Henderson. While in Stamps, Angelou “Experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American South, but she also absorbed the deep religious faith and old-fashioned courtesy of traditional African American life” (“Maya Angelou Biography” Academy of Achievement 1). In 1935 Maya Angelou and her brother move back to St. Louis to live with their mother. While living there, her mom’s boyfriend sexually abused Maya Angelou. Because her uncle killed the boyfriend, Angelou felt guilty for saying anything about it happening and became mute for a several years. She began to speak again at the age of thirteen. Returning again to her mother’s, Maya Angelou moved to San Francisco. While there she attended school at George Washington High School and studied dance at California Labor School. She dropped out of school for a brief time but returned and finishe...

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...n." Maya Angelou - Biography. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
"Maya Angelou." : The Poetry Foundation. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
"Maya Angelou Biography." Academy of Achievement. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
"Maya Angelou." Poets.org. Academy of American Poets, n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
"Maya Angelou Timeline." Maya Angelou Timeline. N.p., n.d. Web. 19 Jan. 2014. .
McKay, Nellie Y.. "Maya Angelou." The World Book Encyclopedia. Vol.1. 2004. 460. Print.
Holberg, Dale H., and Theodore Pappas, eds. "Angelou, Maya." The New Encyclopedia Britannica. 15th ed. Vol. 1. Chicago: Encyclopedia Britannica, 2002. 403. Print.

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