Her Story: Maya Angelou
Photo from White House Archives
Peyton Impola
“The caged bird sings
with a fearful trill
of things unknown
but longed for still
and his tune is heard
on the distant hill
for the caged bird
sings of freedom.
”
Poet. Author. Activist. Educator. All of these are terms in which one could describe one of America’s greatest poets: Maya Angelou. Angelou is without a doubt one of the most influential and important women in American history. Because her work is so widely renowned, Angelou can sometimes be reduced to her poetry or her activism. Her brilliance simply cannot be overstate, but it is important to remember that for Angelou to become such a strong and powerful woman, she had to overcome challenges and fight hard to survive and to thrive.
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. She received the nickname “Maya” from her older brother, and the name stuck with her for the rest of her life. Her parent’s marriage was tense at best, and eventually ended when Angelou was three. Following the divorce, Angelou and her brother were sent to live with their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Despite the ongoing Great Depression, and limited economic opportunities for Black Southerners, Angelou’s grandmother prospered financially, enough so to take care of the two children for four years. When Angelou was seven, her father unexpectedly came to Stamps, and returned her and her brother to their mother’s care in St. Louis.
After returning to her mother, life began to spiral downwards. Angelou’s mother had a new boyfriend, who began to sexually abuse and rape Angelou. After she informed her brother, Angelou’s family was notified, and the man was arrested. He was found guilty, but was only jailed for one day. However, once the man was released, he was murdered–likely by Angelou’s uncles. The entire ordeal was extremely traumatic for the young girl. Angelou became mute for five years. Looking back on this, she said “I thought my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I said his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone.” Shortly after her abuser’s death, Angelou and her brother were sent back into her grandmother’s care.
During the time in which she was mute, Angelou developed her love for literature and books. She attended school, where her teacher Mrs. Bertha Flowers helped her regain her voice. Angelou credited this accomplishment to Flowers’ insistence that “You do not love poetry, not until you speak it.” Flowers introduced Angelou to the works of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, James Weldon Johnson, as well as that of Black female artists, such as Georgia Douglas Johnson, Anne Spencer, and Frances Harper. Angelou had an incredibly sharp mind, and an impressive memory, which she used to commit works of Shakespeare and Poe to memory.
After she turned fifteen, Angelou and her brother returned to the care of their mother. This time, however, they joined her in Oakland, California where she had moved. During World War Two, Angelou attended the California Labor School, and later became the first Black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco. The job had been something Angelou had admired since she moved to the area–her mother went as far as to categorize it as Angelou’s “dream job.” Angelou was encouraged to pursue the career by her mother, who advised her to continue chasing her dream. Just three weeks after she finished school, at just seventeen years old, Angelou gave birth to her son.
In 1951 Angelou married a Greek immigrant by the name of Tosh Angelos, despite opposition from her mother and society over the interracial couple. Angelou became very interested in dance in the following years, and she soon moved to New York with her family to study African dance. However, they returned to San Francisco just a year later. Angelou’s marriage ended in 1954, and she began to professionally dance, and during this time she changed her professional name to Maya Angelou. She continued to dance, and started to sing as well, performing in musicals and recording an album. In 1959, Angelou met novelist John Oliver Killens, who encouraged her to focus on her writing career. To do so, she moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writer Guild, where she was able to confer with multiple Black visionaries and writers.
When Angelou heard Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. in 1960, and met him shortly after, she made the decision to join the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Angelou helped organize fundraisers for the organization, and was named the SCLC’s Northern Coordinator. Her work in the SCLC raising funds was incredibly important and impactful, and her work in activism only blossomed from there. In 1961, she met South African freedom fighter Vusumzi Make, who she moved to Cairo with–bringing her son along with them. In Cairo, Angelou worked as an associate editor at an English newspaper. In 1962, Make and Angelou’s relationship ended, and Angelou moved to Accra, Ghana. It was there that Angelou met Malcom X, with whom she struck up a very close friendship. She moved back to the US in 1965 to help him create a new civil rights organization: the Organization of Afro-American Unity. Sadly, Malcolm X was murdered shortly after, which deeply affected Angelou. In 1969, she published her first autobiography: I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. This work brought her to international fame and acclaim.
Over the next ten years, Angelou was extremely active. She wrote soundtracks for film, articles, movies, books, poetry, short stories, and TV scripts. She produced plays, and several universities named her a visiting professor. She even acted in plays, and received a Tony nomination for her performance in one role. In 1977, she appeared in a supporting role in the mini-series Roots. She won many awards, and was given honorary degrees from numerous universities. In the late 1970s, she met Oprah Winfrey–who at the time was a TV anchor in Baltimore. Winfrey and Angelou developed a close personal relationship, and Angelou acted as a mentor for the anchor.
In 1981, she made the decision to return to the American South, deciding it was time for her to come to terms with her past. Wake Forest University in North Carolina offered her the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of American Studies, which she accepted. In 1993, she recited her poem On the Pulse of Morning at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration. This appearance broadened her reach, earning her more fame and recognition. The recording of the poem even went on to win a Grammy. In 2010, President Barack Obama presented Angelou with the Medal of Freedom. On May 28th, 2014, Maya Angelou died at the age of 86.
Maya Angelou is perhaps the greatest American woman to ever live. She fought through oppression, discrimination, sexual abuse, sexism, and more to cement her place in history books. Her work towards civil rights was vital for the success of the movement, and her career was undoubtedly vibrant and successful. Angelou serves as a role model for young girls everywhere. It is from her story that we can learn that even in the darkest of times, beauty, freedom, and art can still be found.
Sources:
Remembering and Celebrating the Life of Dr. Maya Angelou
Other Works in This Series:
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