Life of Maya Angelou

Essay by askasHigh School, 11th gradeA+, June 2006

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Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri, USA. She is an African America poet, actress and an important figure in the American Civil Rights Movement. She is best known for her book "I know why the caged bird sings." In 1993, Maya Angelou read her poem "On the pulse of Morning" for Bill Clinton's Presidential inauguration.

Maya Angelou had a tough childhood. Her father, Bailey Johnson and her mother was Vivian Baxter. She has one brother named Bailey. At the age of three, their parents divorced and they were sent to live with their grandmother. As a child, she would dream of becoming a white child. She experiences first hand the abuse and humiliation of the black people suffer under the white. 5 years after the divorce, she was raped by her mother's boyfriend, this action cause her to be mute for nearly 5 years.

Life gets no better as time went by. Angelou was involved in drug and by the age of 15, she was pregnant.

Dr. Angelou has 12 best selling books; including her first piece of literature "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" This books talks about her earlier life of isolation and loneliness. The prejudices she faces when growing up and the abuse she suffered. Her second book, "Gather Together in My Name" centered on her early adult years, her jobs as a cook, a dancer, a prostitute and a chauffeured.

Dr. Angelou was an important part The American Civil Rights Movement. Her work "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes" was dedicated to Malcolm X. She inspires many young black people to do the same. Her contributing to the poetry is immense. Having won honor numerous of times and in 1981 was appointed to a lifetime position as...