Maya Angelou Research Paper

Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her full name is Marguerite Annie Johnson. Her parents are Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter Johnson. Her father, Bailey Johnson worked as a doorman and her mother, Vivian Baxter Johnson worked as a nurse. Angelou was a poet, memoirist and a civil rights activist. Her parents split up when she was very young. Because of this, Angelou and her brother moved to Arkansas where their grandmother had lived. Because she was African American, Angelou was discriminated. While visiting her mother, she was abused by her mother's boyfriend. Angelou’s uncle was very upset so he killed the boyfriend. Angelou was traumatized by the experience so she went mute. After going back to Arkansas she spent many of her years there as a mute.

While she was living in San Francisco, California, she won a scholarship to California Labor School. While at the school she studied dance and acting. She became the first black female cable car conductor. In 1944, Angelou gave birth to a son. She worked many jobs to support her son. In 1952, she married Anastasios Angelopulos. She changed her name to Maya Angelou by taking a shortened version of her husband's last name and took her childhood nickname which was Maya.

In the 1950’s, Angelou’s career started to take off. She was in many Broadway productions such as Miss Calypso, Porgy and Bess, and The Black’s. In the 1960’s she lived in places like Egypt and Ghana. She went to the University of Ghana for a while. After she returned, a friend encouraged her to write a book about many of her life experiences. In 1969, she wrote a book called “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” which talked about her years as a child and young adult. The book was the first nonfiction best-seller by an African