Maya Angelou Biography

Maya Angelou was a very influential woman who had an interesting life. She was a poet, civil rights activist, and much more. She got many awards for her work and overcame segregation. The beginning though, would be a better place to start.

Maya Angelou was born in 1928 which was a time when segregation was very real. To make matters worse, her parents got divorced early on. At the time of the divorce she was only two, so of course this event influenced her greatly. She went to live with her uncle and grandmother. Her brother came too. Her uncle decided that even though they were of color, they needed to flourish their minds. He taught them to read and write, and that is what started Maya’s love of poetry. When Maya was about seven years old she and her brother went back to their hometown to live with their mother and her new boyfriend. They called him Mr. Freeman and they all loved him! Until that day. Bailey ( her brother) and her mother weren’t home one day, leaving her and Mr. Freeman alone together. He made a bad decision, sexually abusing Maya. She was only seven, it frightened her so much! She only told Bailey, who told their mother, who told the cops. Mr. Freeman was in jail for only one day, and the day after he was released he was found murdered. Maya thought she did the wrong thing by telling, she didn’t understand because she was so young. As a result, she wouldn’t talk to anyone for five years, because her words had hurt Mr. Freeman and she didn’t want to