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Maya angelou full#
It made Maya an international star and allowed her to write full time. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings became a huge success and was on The New York Times paperback bestseller list for two years. She also shows how she overcame these issues through character, books, and words. In the book, Maya captures the many struggles she went through growing up as an African-American woman in the mid-1900s. The book tells the story of her life up until the age of seventeen. In 1969, Maya published her first autobiography called I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Some people at the party encouraged her to write her story. At the party, Maya told some stories from her early life. At first, she considered herself a playwright and a poet, but that changed in 1968 when she attended a dinner party. She always worked on and off as a writer. She continued to work for the rights of African-Americans and women throughout her career.Īlthough Maya had a lot of interests and careers, her true love was writing. Later, she worked for Malcolm X, but was devastated when he was assassinated. and became the Northern coordinator for his organization, the SCLC. She first worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. She became fairly famous for her acting and even toured Europe as part of the cast of the opera Porgy and Bess.ĭuring the 1960s, Maya worked as a civil rights activist. Maya was a talented dancer, singer, and actress. She graduated from high school in California and then began to work a variety of jobs including fry cook, waitress, cable-car conductor, and dancer. Maya continued to move around the country. She felt so bad that she didn't speak for the next five years. Maya thought that she had caused the man's death with her voice. Not long after telling her mother about it, the boyfriend was shot and killed. While living there, her mother's boyfriend hurt Maya very badly. When Maya was seven, she moved back to St. She got the last name "Angelou" from her first husband. When Maya was still a baby, her brother Bailey called her "My Sister." However, it came out like "Maya Sister." Eventually, he just started calling her "Maya" and the nickname stuck. Her favorite thing in the world was books and the stories they told her.
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While living with her grandmother, Maya's uncle taught her to read. Maya and her four year old brother traveled to Arkansas all by themselves on a train. When Maya was three years old, she went to live with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Her closest family member and friend growing up was her older brother Bailey.
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Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson on Apin St.
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