The Life of Maya Angelou

Regardless of Maya Angelou life, she was subjected to racial discrimination throughout her life, but she still became one the best African American poet. Maya Angelou was not a very imaginative woman, but she had a practical, steady mind a quality need that was necessary to give stability to our new nation. Maya Angelou’s real name is Marguerite Annie Johnson Angelou. Maya was known for her amazing poetry, actress, screenwriter, dancer, and civil rights activist. One of her famous quotations were “ When someone shows you who he or she is, believe them the first time”.

The quote means that you need to believe what people say because some people may look trustworthy, but may be able to do bad things to us multiple times before we actually believe who they truly are. Meanwhile seeing the amazing work she has done she had published seven autobiographies, three books, several books of poetry without mentioning the other movies and television shows.

Marguerite Annie Johnson Angelou was born on April 4.

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1928, in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Stamps, Arkansas throughout her childhood. Marguerite Annie Johnson was put to rest on May 28, 2014. April is the fourth month and has thirty days in the month. The month of April is full of enjoyable holidays. They have eleven holidays and the birthstone of the month is a diamond. The flower of the month is the Daisy and The Sweet Pea and the Zodiac sign is Aries and Taurus. April is the month were Professional baseball is started in the United States.

One of April's famous holidays are April Fools Day and it is the funniest day in the universe. One Famous name for the month of April is that it is called Aphrodite. Something you probably didn't know is that another famous English poet named William Wordsworth and he was born on April 7, 1770. Also on her birthday Martin Luther King died and she never celebrated it since then.

Maya was blessed with an amazing family. Her father's name is Bailey Johnson and her mother's name is Vivian Baxter Johnson. Vivian is mentioned in a lot of Maya’s books, but as I noticed she was a terrible mother. She abandoned Maya and her brother when they were really little. When Maya becomes pregnant Vivian owns up to being a mother to Maya and with the child being born, it brings the two closer. Bailey and Vivian blessed Maya with an older brother named Bailey Johnson Jr. These two hold a lot of enjoyable moments. Jr is the only one to ever be this close to Maya and to make sure she always fine. Some of the family issues that I discovered was that Vivian boyfriend Vusumzi Make was an amazing man, but he had a crush on Maya and she was raped and impregnated at the age of seven. When her uncles found out about the situation her uncles beat the man to death. Once the news gets back to Maya she stayed quiet for five years. Another family issue is that she and her siblings were not able to stay in a house with both parents they were always on the move to different places. Her parents split up when she was in high school and it brought a lot of confusion between the brother and sisters. They were seeing the parent in California but their grandmother lives in Arkansas. While living in Arkansas they found out that her grandmother owned a general store.

Maya Angelou attended some school in Arkansas ( were not labeled in websites). While attending Missions High she earned a scholarship to study dance and drama at the California Labor School. During World War II Angelou moved back to California to study dance and acting at the California Labor School and she also attended George Washington High School. California Labor School is located in San Francisco, California and the George Washington High School is also in San Francisco along the coast. When Maya was in high school she was the first African American female streetcar educator in California. She returned back to school and became pregnant during her senior year and graduated a few weeks before giving birth. At the age of 16 Maya took on the single mother lifestyle. While in stages of being a single mother Maya earned her money by being a waitress and a cook, but she didn't give up on her music, dance, and poetry.

Maya's love life was full of enjoyable moments but somehow they just didn't work out for her. Maya had a couple of young men who liked her and wanted to talk to her but she wasn't the type to cheat on another man. Her first husband was named Paul De Fue and they got married 3 times back to back. Paul was 7 years younger than her and ungifted. Paul was a Welsh-born workingman and a comic strip writer who won notoriety as “Mr. Germaine Greer”. He second husband was named Tosh Angelos. Tosh Angelos was a Greek sailor she met while working in a record shop. Tosh was an atheist and Maya was very spiritual and that's why the marriage didn't last long. Tosh and Maya came to the conclusion that they were having a baby. Maya had a baby boy named Guy Johnson and this was her only child. Guy grew up to become an amazing man. He’s also an amazing husband to his wife and a wonderful dad to his kids. Guy followed in his mother's footsteps and he is writing astonishing poetry.

Marguerite had a lot of amazing jobs but some of the these that stand out that she was a Dancer, Streetcar Conductor, table dancer in a nightclub, paint stripper in a mechanical shop, cook, prostitute, and madam for hookers, calypso singer, magazine editor and lastly an administrative assistant in Ghana. Maya’s careers took place in multiple locations within the U.S and Africa. Some of these jobs had an impact on her life, some turned her into a woman but the others just helped her make some money to help support her family. Maya gained her wealth and fame through her books and the crucial moments that happened in her life. Some of the accomplishments she received were Coretta Scott King Award, Matrix, North Carolina Award in Literature, Crystal, Grammy, NAACP, Literary Award. These were just some of them but not all. She was one of the first African American females to become famous and win a lot of awards. Also with her facing with the racial language being thrown at her. Racial language back in the day was very bad and I thought that it could tear a person down, but through this, I see that she’s a strong woman. While studying and mastering these career’s Maya showed that she had courage and faith throughout her life.

Overall Maya Angelou seemed like she lived an amazing life shown by her astonishing poetry, books, and movies. Once she moved to California to study dance and drama she dropped it to start her writing career. Her writing career shows the way hard work pays off because she continued to write and then she was blessed with plenty of awards. With her parents being separated Maya and her brother handled the pressure lightly and conquered everything. Throughout her lifetime she shows how she is an imaginative woman with a steady mind. Maya was a humble woman to fight for what she needed to do to succeed in life.

Works Cited

1. “List of Honors Received by Maya Angelou.” Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, 1 Oct. 2018, en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_honors_received_by_Maya_Angelou#Awards.
2. “Maya Angelou Biography.” Encyclopedia of World Biography, www.notablebiographies.com/