Maya Angelou (2024)

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What is Maya Angelou most famously known for? ›

What is Maya Angelou best known for? Maya Angelou's first autobiographical work, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), gained critical acclaim and a National Book Award nomination. Her best known poem is perhaps On the Pulse of Morning, which she composed and delivered for the inauguration of U.S. Pres.

Returning to her mother's care briefly at the age of seven, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. He was later jailed and then killed when released from jail. Believing that her confession of the trauma had a hand in the man's death, Angelou became mute for six years.

Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood's first female black director, but became famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet. As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X.

Angelou joined the Harlem Writers Guild in the late 1950s and met James Baldwin and other important writers. It was during this time that Angelou had the opportunity to hear Dr. Martin Luther King speak. Inspired by his message, she decided to become a part of the struggle for civil rights.

At the age of eight, she was sexually abused. Her rapist was found guilty but spent only a single day in jail. After his release, he was beaten to death. Consequently, little Maya simply stopped speaking.

In 1952, she married a Greek sailor named Anastasios Angelopulos. When she began her career as a nightclub singer, she took the professional name Maya Angelou, combining her childhood nickname with a form of her husband's name. Although the marriage did not last, her performing career flourished.

After the 1968 assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr., Angelou was inspired by a meeting with writer James Baldwin and cartoonist Jules Feiffer to write I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings as a way of dealing with the death of her friend and to draw attention to her own personal struggles with racism.

Angelou married three times in her life. The first, to Greek carpenter Tosh Angelos (1949-52), the second to South African activist Vusumzi L. Make (1960-63) and the third to carpenter Paul du Feu (1973-80). “I know that I'm not the easiest person to live with.

Later in her high school years, Maya was inspired by her teacher, Bertha Flowers, to dive into literature, which would changed her life.

What is Maya Angelou remembered for? ›

A multitalented writer and performer, Maya Angelou is best known for her work as an author and poet. Her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman.

“Do the best you can until you know better. Then when you know better, do better.” “We may encounter many defeats, but we must not be defeated. It may even be necessary to encounter the defeat, so that we can know who we are.”

Angelou did not earn a university degree, but according to Gillespie it was Angelou's preference to be called "Dr. Angelou" by people outside of her family and close friends.

What is a fear of living? It's being preeminently afraid of dying. It is not doing what you came here to do, out of timidity and spinelessness. The antidote is to take full responsibility for yourself - for the time you take up and the space you occupy.