History and background of Dr. Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri.
She enjoyed a close relationship with her brother, who gave her the nickname Maya when they were very young.
At age seven, while visiting her mother in Chicago, she was sexually molested by her mother's boyfriend. Too ashamed to tell any of the adults in her life, she confided in her brother. When she later heard the news that an uncle had killed her attacker, she felt that her words had killed the man. She fell silent and did not speak for five years.

Maya began to speak again at 13, when she and her brother rejoined their mother in San Francisco. Maya attended Mission High School and won a scholarship to study dance and drama at San Francisco's Labor School, where she was exposed to the progressive ideals that animated her later political activism. She dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor. She later returned to high school, but became pregnant in her senior year and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home at 16 and took on the difficult life of a single mother, supporting herself and her son by working as a waitress and cook, but she had not given up on her talents for music, dance, performance and poetry.

What society was like for Maya Angelou ?

This time period was bad . American Civil Rights Movement (1955–1968) refers to the reform movements in the United States aimed at abolishing racial discrimination against African Americans and restoring suffrage in Southern states. particularly in the South. By 1966, the emergence of the Black Power Movement, which lasted roughly from 1966 to 1975, enlarged the aims of the Civil Rights Movement to include racial dignity, economic and political self-sufficiency, and freedom from White domination.
Many of those who were most active in the Civil Rights Movement, with organizations such as SNCC, CORE and SCLC, prefer the term "Southern Freedom Movement" because the struggle was about far more than just civil rights under law; Well , Dr. Angelou, worked with Martin Luther King, Jr. at the height of the Civil Rights Movement.
The interviewer asked Maya What was Dr. King really like, personally?
Maya Angelou: Dr. King was a human being. He had a sense of humor which was wonderful.

www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ang0int-1

Dr. Maya Angelou uses of emotion

she avoids personal confrontations or any expression of intense, unpleasant emotions. Maya Angelou is an idealist who would like to paint the world in pastel colors, and live in peace and harmony with others at all times. She is able to see points of similarity and unity with people who are vastly different from her, and befriend many different types of people. She is a considerate and thoughtful friend, and has a real flair for making others feel accepted and appreciated. Inwardly Maya Angelou is often torn with indecision and is much more at odds with herself than others would ever guess from her smooth, even disposition.

Dr. Maya Angelou Speaking Style

Cram, confidence moving the audiences.
She was Specking from the heart .
Wanted to capture American’s Heart with words .
She embraces American speech to tell story’s of black's in pose and poetry , of black Woman’s identity .
Maya Angelo was a speaker from the Heart !
Down to earth and real but also inspiring .
Maya , move’d the audiences With words of Wisdom creating a fell of togetherness with others and her work .

How Dr. Maya Angelou Impacted history .

Dr. Maya Angelou is a remarkable Renaissance woman who is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. As a poet, educator, historian, best-selling author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director, she continues to travel the world, spreading her legendary wisdom. Within the rhythm of her poetry and elegance of her prose lies Angelou's unique power to help readers of every orientation span the lines of race and Angelou captivates audiences through the vigor and sheer beauty of her words and lyrics.

Dr. Maya Angelou has 16 PHD's

one of there from Atlanta University

Honorary Degree, Atlanta University, 1980.

Dr. Angelou has authored twelve best-selling books including I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, A Song Flung Up to Heaven and Even the Stars Look Lonesome

In 1981, Dr. Angelou was appointed to a lifetime position as the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.

In January 1993, she became only the second poet in U.S. History to have the honor of writing and reciting original work at the Presidential Inauguration.

Dr. Angelou has been nominated for two Grammy Awards for "Best Spoken Word or Non Musical Album" for On The Pulse Of Morning (1993) and Phenomenal Woman (1995). In 2004, she received a Grammy Award nomination in the "Best Spoken Word Album"