Maya Angelou had a difficult childhood, being raped and becoming mute for years after. She was inspired by Mrs. Flowers to love language and graduated high school, later working as a singer and activist. Angelou wrote several acclaimed autobiographical books and poems and became known worldwide as a spokesperson for civil rights. She received many honors throughout her career, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination and a Grammy.

1. Maya Angelou
by
Abrianna Middleton

2. Early Years
Parents split up.
●
●
Her and brother Bailey had to live with their
fathers mother, Anne Henderson in Stamps,
Arkansas.
She was raped by her mothers boyfriend.
●
Her boyfreind was then murdered.
●

3. The Silent Years
●
Angelou felt responsible for the crime and didn't
speak for 5 years.
●
developed a love for language and began to read
authors like: Langston Hughes, Paul Lawrence
Dunbar, William Shakespeare, Charles Dickens,
and Edgar Allen Poe. However, she didn't speak
again until...

4. Mrs. Flowers
At the age of twelve she meets Mrs. Flowers.
●
An educated black woman.
●
●
Mrs. Flowers as Angelou recalled in her
children's book stressed the importance of the
spoken word and of education. She implanted in
her a love of poetry.
●
Angelou graduated at the top of her eight-grade
class.

5. Education
●
Attended George Washington High School in San Francisco
and took lessons in dance and drama on a scholarship at the
California Labor School.
●
Age seventeen, she began to work as the first female African
American street car conductor in San Francisco.
●
Graduated from high school and gave birth to her son Guy.
●

6. Major Events
1952- Married a Greek sailor named Tosh Angelos
●
Began her career as a nightclub singer
●
1954-55-Toured in a production of Porgy and Bess
●
1957- Recorded the album Calypso Lady
●
1958 - Moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild
●
1959 - involved with Civil Rights Activists
●
1959 - At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., became the northern coordinator for the Southern
●
Christian Leadership Conference.
●
1960 – Met South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make, the couple and Guy moved, to Cairo,
Egypt.She worked as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. She later moved to
Ghana
1964 - Returned to America to help Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity
●
●
1968 - Malcolm X is assassinated, Maya began working on her Autobiographical book 'I Know Why
the Caged Bird Sings'
1970 - 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' is published
●
●
1973 - Married Paul du Feu, moved to Sonoma, California. She then worked on her writing and
acting.

7. ●
1976 - Published Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas
●
1981 - divorced Paul du Feu
●
1981 - Published The Heart of a Woman
●
1984 - Met Oprah Winfrey and became her friend and mentor
1993 - reads her poem On the Pulse of Morning at inauguration of President Bill
●
Clinton
●
1997 – Published All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes
●
2002 - Published A Song Flung Up to Heaven
●
2008 - became a radio talk show host for the first time hosting a weekly show
for XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends channel

8. Awards
●
1970 - Receives the Chubb Fellowship Award, Yale University
1972 - Receives the Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Just Give Me A Cool Drink of
●
Water 'Fore I Die
1976 - Receives the Ladies' Home Journal Award ("Woman of the Year in
●
Communication")
●
1977 - Receives the Golden Eagle Award, Afro-American in the Arts
●
1986 - Receives Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer
award
●
1991 - Receives Langston Hughes Medal
●
1993 - Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album," "On The Pulse of Morning,"
●
1996 - Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Association National Award
●
2006 - Receives Mother Teresa Award
●
2008 - The first recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award

9. Still I Rise

10. Works Cited
●
“Maya Angelou.”Poetry Foundation. n.p., n.d.
November 9, 2012.
<http://www.poetryfoundation.org>
●
“ Maya Angelou. Biography.”bio. True Story. n.p.,
n.d. November 9, 2012.<http://biography.com>
●
“Maya Angelou Timeline.”Maya Angelou
Timeline. n.p, n.d.<http://www.history-
timelines.org.uk>