Maya Angelou
By: Sara Clark
Biography
• April 4th 1928, St. Louis, as Marguerite Ann
Johnson
• Parents were Bailey and Vivian Johnson
• Older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed her Maya
from “Mya sister”
• Parents divorced when she was three
• Went to live with grandmother in Stamps,
Arkansas
Cont.
• Sexually abused and raped by mother’s
boyfriend at 8 years old
• She studied dance and drama at California
Labor School
• At 17, she gave birth to her son, Clyde
• 1951, married Enistasious (Tosh) Angelos
• Other than being a writer, she was also a
singer, an actress, a producer and director of
plays, movies, TV shows
Works
• Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die
(1971)
• Oh Pray My Wings are Gonna Fit Me Well
(1975)
• And Still I Rise (1978)
• Shaker, Why Don't You Sing (1983)
• Now Sheba Sings the Song (1987)
• I Shall Not Be Moved (1990)
Cont.
• On The Pulse of the Morning (1993)
• The Complete Collected Poems of Maya
Angelou (1994)
• Phenomenal Women: Four Poems for Women
(1995)
• A Brave and Startling Truth (1995)
• From a Black Woman to a Black Man (1995)
Cont.
• I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969): Up to
1944 (age 17)
• Gather Together in My Name (1974): 1944–1948
• Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry like
Christmas (1976): 1949–1955
• The Heart of a Woman (1981): 1957–1962
• All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986):
1962–1965
• A Song Flung up to Heaven (2002): 1965–1968
Themes & Influences
• Birds trying to escape cages
• Identity
• Family
• Travel
The Peckerwood Dentist and
Momma’s Incredible Powers
• Summary
• Themes
Sources
• Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Themes in Maya
Angelou’s Autobiographies. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc.
2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Themes_in_Maya_Angelou%27s_autobiographies>.
• Maya Angelou: Global Renaissance Woman. Books. Penguin
Creative. 2012. <http://mayaangelou.com/ books/>.
• Wikipedia: The Free Encyclopedia. Maya Angelou.
Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 2012.
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maya_Angelou>.
• Robinson, Mary. I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: Notes.
University of North Carolina: Greensboro. 2006.
<http://byumsw.wikispaces.com/file/view/Cliffs_Notes__Angelou_I_know_why_the_caged_bird_sings.pdf >.