Maya Angelou's biography

Maya Angelou, and accomplished writer, and person overall. Meeting with people like the president of the United States and Martin Luther King. She was known across America for her story “I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings”. Even though she became successful that does not mean that it was easy, as she was blowing up in a time of segregation and hate. Maya Angelou was not always famous, and she was also not always a writer. Before all of this she was teacher of the University of California, the University of Kansas, the University of Ghana, and many others.

April 4th, 1928, Marguette Annie Johnson was born in St. Louis, Missouri to Vivian Baxter (mother) and Bailey Johnson sr. (father). Maya never stuck to one name and what people called her varied from time to time depending who you were asking, but Maya was the one that stuck, as her brother called her that. Maya meaning “My sister”. Eventually her parents got a divorce and sent Maya and her brother Bailey on a train to california, all the way to their fathers mothers home.

This was not a good time as the Great Depression was a current event and made living harder for everyone.

Maya was eventually taken back to her mother in St. Louis where she was raped by her mothers boyfriend. He did not get away with it though as he was beaten to death by Maya’s uncles. This event caused Maya to go mute. Soon she would go back to California and stay there.

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And now is where her writing begins as the only real outlet she had was the literature she took such great interest in. Soon became closer with her mother at 16 she became pregnant with a baby boy. Maya named her son clyde but he eventually changed his name to Guy Johnson. Johnson being his mother’s maiden name.

Maya wrote more books including books that have her life and children in them. Guy was included in these books. This is where Maya’s success began, and her great literacy skills came in handy and really showed with her autobiographies. She ended up writing a lot about how black lives are affected by racism and sexism. She definitely had plenty of experience with these things due to the times she grew up in and her being a black woman. Not only does this show what she went through it also shows how talented she really is with having the cards stacked against her. The fact that she preserved through through the prejudice towards her and people like her just strengthens the importance of her accomplishments.

Maya’s accomplishments all payed off eventually when she got the role of The White Queen in Jean Genet’s play which was about race and the power involved with those themes. But this cause Maya to send her son Guy to live with her mother Vivienne while Maya pursued her career in performing. This was around the time she took a stand against segregation. She of course had experience with these things and was most likely affected by these things as it would eventually take a toll on anyone’s self esteem. It was even harder back in the day to get by as not only a woman, but a colored woman. Despite this, she got through it and became a very distinguished and successful woman with the cards stacked against her.

All of these events in her life inspired a lot of the themes that are present in her writings and her poems throughout the time that she was writing. This made her writings and poems more relatable to people with the same problems. This attracted the attention of people like Dr. Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. They both at one time or another acknowledged her poems and work. Which i would say (and i’m sure anyone else would too) is a very big accomplishment. Especially since at the time these were very controversial figures of the time and ushered in new expectations and new ideas about how we treat people.

Maya could not have chose a better time to write these things as these issues in the world and the conflict that they brought with them were at a head at the time. People needed to hear what she had to say and they did. Angelea put into words what the people who dealt with discrimination felt and what they have to go through to just live at the time. Maya had not only been through what everyone else of her race had gone through but she had also had to go through her own fair share of personal troubles with what she went through as a little girl. Things like the divorce of her mother and father, her uncle molesting her, and then her having a child at such a young age. These things as you can imagine probably left everlasting scars on her. These scars have given her writing and her poems even more character and made them more relatable for people going through similar issues.

Maya Angelou brought so many things to the plate in her writings and attracted attention from people all over. Her love for writing really payed off and showed. It all really goes to show that no matter what you go through and what challenges are ahead of you in life, the harder you try the more you can accomplish. Maya had a lot to go through in a time that expected less than nothing from her but she still exceeded everyone’s expectations and broke out of the the chains that society bound her in. Maya took it upon herself to succeed and show the world that just because she wasn’t white, a man, or rich that she could not only live a nice life, but live a great life and show others what they are capable of.

Maya Angelou was a great writer and an even greater person to look up to. If she hasn’t inspired anyone it would be a surprise, and the term “Started from the bottom now we’re here” really is prevalent here as she came from nothing into a great big something. The books and poems she has written are now being read all over and are being addressed in interviews and stories about her and her legacy constantly. You could even argue that she deserves even more credit than she has already gotten. Maya Angelou took events that were looked over as nothing at the time and wrote it out has interesting and thoughtful stories.