Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St. Louis, Mo. Angelou attended high school in San Francisco, and studied dance and drama. At the age of 14, she dropped out of school and became the city's first African-American, female street car conductor. She later graduated and gave birth to her son, Guy, soon after.
In 1954 and 1955, Angelou toured Europe with the opera production Porgy and Bess. In 1960, Angelou moved to Cairo, Egypt, to become the editor of an English-language weekly newspaper. The following year, she moved to Ghana and taught at the University of Ghana's School of Music and Drama.
Angelou read and studied voraciously, mastering several languages, including French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and the West African language Fanti While in Ghana, Angelou met Malcolm X and, in 1964, returned to America with him to help form his Organization of African American Unity.
Shortly after Malcolm X's assassination in 1965, Martin Luther King Jr. asked Angelou to serve as northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Angelou was devastated when King was assassinated in 1968. She wrote a poem entitled Abundant Hope for the 2011 dedication of the MLK Memorial in Washington, D.C.
Angelou's most famous work described her early life in Long Beach, St. Louis and Stamps, Ark. In one scene in the book, Angelou describes her rape by her mother's boyfriend at the age of 7. The man was murdered by Angelou's uncles. Angelou felt responsible for the death, and she was mute for five years.
In all, Angelou produced more than 30 best-selling works of fiction and non-fiction.Angelou appeared in the television adaptation of Alex Haley's Roots and in John Singleton's Poetic Justice.n 2000, Angelou received the Presidential Medal of Arts and, in 2008, the Lincoln Medal. In 2010, President Obama awarded Angelou with the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Angelou has also won three Grammy Awards for her spoken-word albums.
Some of my favorite Maya quotes:
"I am a Woman Phenomenally, Phenomenal Woman that's me.
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel."
You may not control all the events that happen to you, but you can decide not to be reduced by them."
"We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated."
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