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| | | | Short Biography of Maya Angelou
Date of Birth: Born on April 4, 1928
Place of Birth : Saint Louis, Missouri
Parents: Father - Bailey Johnson
Mother: Vivian Baxter Johnson
Background Facts, Information & Ancestry : Maya was descended from the Mende people of West Africa. Her brother, Bailey Jr., gave her the nickname "Maya". | |
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| | | 1928 | April 4, 1928 - Her timeline begins when Maya was born as Marguerite Ann Johnson in Saint Louis, Missouri. Her parents were Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson | |
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| | | 1931 | Her parents marriage ended and Maya and her brother were sent to live with her father's mother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas | |
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| | | 1935 | The children were returned to the care of their mother in St. Louis | |
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| | | 1937 | Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. The shock made Maya mute and the children were sent back to live with their grandmother once again | |
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| | | 1941 | Maya and her brother returned to live with her mother in San Francisco where she attended George Washington High School and studied dance and drama on a scholarship at the California Labor School | |
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| | | 1942 | Teacher Bertha Flowers helped Maya to talk again and encouraged her interest in literature | |
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| | | 1942 | She dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor | |
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| | | 1943 | Maya returned to high school, but became pregnant and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home to bring up her son as a single mother working as a waitress and cook | |
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| | | 1952 | She married a Greek sailor named Tosh Angelos but the marriage quickly failed | |
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| | | 1952 | She began her career as a nightclub singer and during this time took the name Maya Angelou | |
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| | | 1954/5 | Toured in a production of Porgy and Bess | |
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| | | 1957 | Recorded the album called Calypso Lady | |
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| | | 1958 | Developed her skills in writing poetry and moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild | |
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| | | 1959 | Became involved with Civil Rights Activists | |
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| | | 1959 | At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. | |
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| | | 1960 | She met the South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make and in 1960, the couple and Guy moved, to Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo, Maya Angelou worked as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. She later moved to Ghana | |
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| | | 1964 | Returned to America hoping to help Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity | |
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| | | 1968 | Malcolm X is assassinated and Maya began working on her Autobiographical book 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' | |
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| | | 1970 | I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is published | |
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| | | 1973 | Maya Angelou married Paul du Feu and moved with him and her son to Sonoma, California. She then worked on her writing and acting | |
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| | | 1974 | Published Gather Together in My Name | |
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| | | 1976 | Published Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas | |
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| | | 1981 | She divorced Paul du Feu | |
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| | | 1981 | Published The Heart of a Woman | |
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| | | 1984 | Met Oprah Winfrey and became her friend and mentor | |
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| | | 1993 | Maya Angelou reads her poem On the Pulse of Morning at inauguration of President Bill Clinton | |
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| | | 1997 | Published All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes | |
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| | | 2002 | Published A Song Flung Up to Heaven | |
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| | | 1970 | Receives the Chubb Fellowship Award, Yale University | |
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| | | 1972 | Receives the Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die | |
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| | | 1976 | Receives the Ladies' Home Journal Award ("Woman of the Year in Communication") | |
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| | | 1977 | Receives the Golden Eagle Award, Afro-American in the Arts | |
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| | | 1986 | Receives Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer award | |
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| | | 1991 | Receives Langston Hughes Medal | |
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| | | 1993 | Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album," "On The Pulse of Morning," | |
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| | | 1996 | Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Association National Award | |
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| | | 2006 | Receives Mother Teresa Award | |
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| | | 2006 | Maya Angelou became a radio talk show host for the first time hosting a weekly show for XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends channel | |
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| | | 2008 | Becomes the first recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award | |
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