Maya Angelou - a Great Writer and Poet

I first learned of writer Maya Angelou's amazing works as a freshman in college when I signed up for a winter term class that was the study of her work. Before then, I hadn't heard of Maya Angelou. I honestly just signed up for it as I liked the teacher that was teaching it. When I was finished, I had learned that Maya Angelou was one of my favorite writers, poets, and an amazing woman.

"I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings" is the story of her life. It shares her joys and her sorrows with the readers. However, the most touching part of the book for me was her speaking of how she was raped by her mothers' boyfriend at age 7. The man was killed by her uncles for what he done and the book teaches many life lessons that we all are aware of but do not often think about. How appropriate is it that she reveals that her uncles stepped in and done what I am sure the courts at the time would not have done to protect her from such a monster. This book was published in 1970 and James Baldwin worked on the book with her and for that time the book would have seemed very controversial, I would think. However, the book was given international acclaim.

Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. When her parents separated, she went to Stamps , Arkansas to live with her grandmother for the most part of her life. As a teenager, she studied dance and drama at the San Francisco's Labor School on a scholarship. At age 14, she quit school and decided to become the first African-American female cable car conductor. At age 17, she became a single mom to her only son, Guy Johnson. She worked as a cook and waitress to support herself and her son.

Maya knew that the performing arts was where her heart was and in 1954 she began to tour Europe with the opera, "Porgy and Bess". While overseas, she studied modern dance with Martha Graham. She also lived in Cairo, Egypt and Ghana while she was overseas. She was the editor of The Arab Observer and The African Review. While in Ghana, she met Malcom X. She returned to the United States to help him begin his African-American Unity organization, but it soon fell apart after his death. Dr. Martin Luther King offered her a job also, but once again she was disappointed and distraught with his untimely death.

Maya Angelou is a very public African- American figure and she has many accomplishments to prove that she should be the world renowned writer and activist that she is. She was honored with being the first African-American woman to have a screenplay that she personally had written filmed. In 1972, she was given that honor with the screenplay, " Georgia". That film was also nominated for a Pultizer Prize. She also has been honored with three Grammy awards, served on 2 Presidential committees, has directed a film. Has more than 30 books written covering both fiction and non-fiction. She is fluent in French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and Fanti ( which is the West African language) . She has an album that she recorded in 1957, "Calypso Lady" and was named Glamour Magazines' Woman of the Year in 2009.

Maya has been given the Presidential Medal of Arts and the Lincoln Medal for her publishings. She also holds 30 honorary degrees although she never completed her college education. Maya Angelou is a great poet, novelist, educator, historian, and civil rights activist as well as an award winning producer, actress, and filmmaker. Her words stir our hearts and our very souls. Maya Angelou is an inspiration to me even to this day. It is amazing to me how as a freshman in college, I was so deeply touched by a woman that I have never met and will never meet, yet feel that I know well.

Source: Personal reading