Maya Angelou's Literary Analysis

On April 4th of 1928 Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri. She was given the name “Maya” by her brother, Bailey. Both Maya and Bailey were sent to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas after her parents divorced. When Maya went to visit her mother at the age of eight she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend.

1954 through 1955- Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera "Porgy and Bess." 1957- Recorded her first album, "Calypso Lady." 1958- Angelou moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild. She acted in Jean Genet’s Off-Broadway production, "The Blacks," and performed "Cabaret for Freedom."

When she says “I would like to claim an immediate fury followed by the noble determination to break the restricting traditions” (Angelou, 143). This shows that Angelou has determination to change the traditions and break the barrier between her race and

Louis, Missouri named Marguerite Ann Johnson on April 4, 1928. Being the second child and first daughter of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and Navy dietitian, and Vivian Baxter Johnson, a professional nurse and a card dealer. Getting her name from her brother, Bailey Jr. Further on with her parents divorce Maya and Bailey traveled from Long Beach, California to a Southern backwash of Stamps, Arkansas, specified as Maya’s birthplace. [Angelou Page 15] Living under the care of their grandmother, and somewhat paralyzed Uncle Willie, they lived in the town 's black quarter. Working in the family business Johnson General Merchandise store.

By the time teen Maya Angelou was sixteen years old, she became pregnant with a baby boy, she named, Guy Johnson. Once Maya Angelou was no longer a young girl she was determined to travel outside of United States of America, making a huge difference and transitioning from girl to woman. Then finally Maya Angelou became a female African American Activist Civil Rights Leader who was famous for being a writer, singer, actress, author, director, stage and screen performer, also most well-known poet. Throughout her career, Angelou has earned several awards and accomplished many accomplishments, including receiving a Grammy award. Her best known art work was entitled, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

Approaching the end of the book, chapter thirty-three is about Bailey leaving the house. Angelou notices that she and Bailey have both grown up since she left the house, but Bailey seems to have grown more than her. I could not relate to Angelou’s experience with watching her brother leave the house because my family life has been mostly uneventful. I did find it odd that Bailey thought it was his time to leave the house at sixteen years old. I am seventeen years old now and I would not dream of leaving the house to go out on my own in the world.

Angelou is most remembered for her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, the first autobiographical work which was significant in the history of literary world and gained

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 Maya Angelou’s “Graduation” she spoke about a fictional character named Marguerite Johnson and her eighth-grade graduation. Marguerite was always kinda of lost and selfish at times, and never look at how others seen things. But as the story goes on Marguerite starts to find herself and understand others. “Graduation” isn’t just about how Marguerite pass on to the next grade but how she has grown from a lost girl to a young intelligence woman. In this story the reader is going to follower her on this surprising journey.

She travelled to Ghana and met a man named Guy. In Accra, she met Malcolm X and became close friends with him. Angelou participated in civil rights organizations like the Organization of Afro-American Unity. After that in 1968 Martin Luther King, Jr. asked Maya Angelou to organize a march. Maya Angleou wrote an autobiography called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970).

Although not many schools approves Angelou’s work because of censored content, others appreciate the ways of Angelou’s writing. She points out certain situations through racism, which many sees “her poetry becomes both political and confessional”, critic Priscilla R. Ramsey says (Bloom, 76). Ramsey also says, most readers enjoy “ her full length creative writing” rather than pointing out parts of her autobiographies are not for every type of audiences (Bloom, 76). Her most controversial writing was based on her sexulality as a young adult and she faced in her traumatic childhood. From these topics, is was what her works were almost banned in public schools and libraries (Williamson).

Maya Angelou author of I know why the caged bird sings. Writes about her life growing up. Annie Henderson has been their for maya in various ways. One way has been always respecting her. An example of this has been when she respected her silence after she has been raped and her birth mother family didn’t respect it and send her back to Stamps,Arkansas.

She had a hard life and overcame her struggle and became a very influential person to so many people including me. Maya Angelou born Marguerite Annie Johnson born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Her parents are Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian,

In 1970 she was appointed as writer-in-Residence at the University of Kansas and as a Yale University Fellow. Maya published here, the first of her five-volume autobiographical series, beginning with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Through the device of autobiography, Angelou has celebrated the richness and vitality of Southern Black life and the sense of community that persists in the face of poverty and racial prejudice, initially revealing this celebration through a portrait of life as experienced by a Black child in the Arkansas of the 1930s (I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 1979). The second volume (Gather Together in My Name, 1974) delineates a young woman struggling to create an existence that provides security and love in Post-World War II America. The third (Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry like Christmas, 1976) presents a young, married adult in the 1950’s seeking a carrer in show business and experiencing her first amiable contact with the Whites.

Hailed as one of the immense voices of contemporary African American writing, Maya Angelou 's scholarly works have created basic and well known enthusiasm for part, since they portray her triumph over unimpressive social impediments, her battle, as a woman, to accomplish an identity and gain self-acknowledgment. Such themes tie Angelou 's writings closely to the concerns of the feminist literary movement. Dr Angelou has additionally been noted for her clear depictions of the strongest ladies throughout her life. Angelou’s one of the most inspiring poems Still I Rise will be one of the texts for analysis. The other three are as follows: