Maya Angelou - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography (Read)

Maya Angelou - biography, date of birth, place of birth, filmography, clips, Actress, Writer, Director, Producer.

April 4, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri, USA - May 28, 2014, Winston-Salem, North Carolina, USA - American writer, poet, actress, screenwriter and director.

Her father was a nutritionist and her mother was a nurse. When Margarita was three years old, her parents divorced. The father sent Marguerite and her four brothers to live with his paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson.

Four years later, the father brought the children back to their mother in St. Louis. At the age of eight, Marguerite was sexually abused by her mother's friend, Freeman. She confessed this to her brother, who in turn told the whole family about it. Freeman was found guilty, but was jailed for one day. Four days after his release, he was probably killed by his uncle Margarita. After Freeman's death, Marguerite was silent for almost five years, as she believed that her voice killed a person. According to her colleague Marcia Ann Gillespie, who wrote the biography of Angelou, it was during this period of silence that she developed a love for books and literature, as well as the ability to listen and observe the world around her.

After Freeman's murder, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother. Teacher and family friend Bertha Floors helped her speak. Floors introduced her to the works of such writers as Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Poe, Douglas Johnson and James Johnson. When Angelou was 14 years old, he and his brother moved in with their mother, who was already living in Oakland, California. Angelou worked as a tram conductor in San Francisco, and three weeks after leaving school, at the age of 17, she gave birth to a son, Clyde, who also became a poet.

In her second autobiography, Gather Together in My Name (1974), Angelou talks about her life between the ages of 17 and 19. In this autobiography, she tells the story of a single mother who had to work as a pimp, a cook in a restaurant and a prostitute.

She penned seven autobiographies, five books of essays, several collections of poetry. Her name is among the authors of a number of plays, films and television shows that have been released for more than fifty years. Maya Angelou is the recipient of multiple awards and over thirty honorary doctorates. The book “I know why a bird sings in a cage”, a chronicle of her life until the age of 16, brought her worldwide fame.

Maya Angelou was active in the civil rights movement. She happened to work with Martin Luther King and Malcolm X. In 1993, at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, she read her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning."

Her work is widely used in schools and universities around the world. Angelou's books focus on topics such as racism, personality, family and travel.

All Information About: Maya Angelou - Biography, Date of Birth, Place of Birth, Filmography.
Author: Jane Watson