#Dr maya angelou quotes series

Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman. įour years later, when Angelou was seven and her brother eight, the children's father 'came to Stamps without warning' and returned them to their mother's care in St.

In 'an astonishing exception' to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the Great Depression and World War II, because the general store she owned sold basic and needed commodities and because 'she made wise and honest investments'. When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' 'calamitous marriage' ended, and their father sent them to Stamps, Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. Angelou's older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed Marguerite 'Maya', derived from 'My' or 'Mya Sister'. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928, the second child of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and card dealer. Her books center on themes including racism, identity, family and travel. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing and expanding the genre. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as autobiographical fiction, but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of Black culture. With the publication of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem ' On the Pulse of Morning' (1993) at the first inauguration of Bill Clinton, making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at the inauguration of John F. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the lecture circuit, something she continued into her eighties.

Angelou was active in the Civil Rights Movement and worked with Martin Luther King Jr. In 1982, she was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. Angelou was also an actress, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. These included fry cook, sex worker, nightclub performer, Porgy and Bess cast member, Southern Christian Leadership Conference coordinator, and correspondent in Egypt and Ghana during the decolonization of Africa. She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

#Dr maya angelou quotes series

Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.

She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. Maya Angelou ( / ˈ æ n dʒ ə l oʊ/ ⓘ AN-jə-loh born Marguerite Annie Johnson April 4, 1928 – May 28, 2014) was an American memoirist, poet, and civil rights activist.