MAYA ANGELOU

Maya Angelou, poet, historian, singer, songwriter, playwright, dancer, director, and civil rights activist, was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. She had a turbulent childhood, and retold many of her experiences in her first autobiographical work I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings (1969), a collection of stories that made her one of the first African-American women to reach the bestsellers list. Despite the challenges and inequities of her life as a child, Maya’s work delivered powerful messages of humanity and hope, expressing her firm conviction that: “The honorary duty of a human being is to love.” Af ter publishing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou went on to write six more profoundly influential autobiographical works over the next forty-five years until her death in 2014. Angelou was also a prolific writer of poetry. Her volume, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie , published in 1971, was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize, and she was chosen by US President Bill Clinton to recite her poem " On the Pulse of Morning " during his inauguration in 1993. In addition to her work as a poet and writer, Maya Angelou had a productive career in TV and film. She wrote several prize-winning documentaries such as Afro-Americans in the Arts and wrote the Pulitzer-winning screenplay for the 1972 film Georgia, Georgia, for which she also wrote the musical score . In the 1960s, Angelou was active in the civil rights movement, working with both Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr., as the northern leader of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Angelou also helped Malcom X in forming the new Organization of African American Unity. On May 28, 2014, Maya Angelou passed quietly in her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she had served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University since 1982. Check out one of Angelou’s famous poems, Still I Rise . Sources: [poets.org, biography.com]