Maya Angelou Case

Maya Angelou is a poet, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil rights, activist, producer and director that will long be recognized because in her work it deals with everyday human conditions. She was able to turn her remarkable, hectic life into something creative and motivational. Maya was born on April 4th 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri to Bailey Johnson, a naval dietician and doorman, and Vivian Baxter, a nurse and realtor. Much discrimination was shown toward the blacks of Stamps and they had to unite to overcome these unfair obstacles of society. She was born Marguerite Johnson, but later changed her name to Maya.

When her parents divorced she was sent with her brother to live Annie Henderson (Momma), her grandmother in racially segregated Stamps, Arkansas.

Maya published ten best-selling books. Maya Angelou is more than just another fa-mous woman; she is a role model and inspiration to the world. One of her most famous books is "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". This autobiography is most influential to me because it tells what all she went through during her life time, which was many hardships and prove that obstacles can be overcame.

She faced racial discrimination and sexuality confused and many other things. Annie was aging and could not care for the kids any more so they went to stay with their mother Vivian Baxter. While staying with her mother she was sexually molested at the age 7 by her mother's boyfriend. She told her brother about it then her mother soon found out about it. The attacker then came up missing a few days later.

Maya believed her words killed the attacker, so stopped talking for approximately five half years. During these years she started writing about overcoming her hardships. The topics of her writing showed maturity at a young age. But fact is, the horrible expe-riences she encountered force her to mature. With her family and friends encouraging her they helped her overcome her fear of speaking.

In 1945, she graduated from high school at the age of 16 from George Washington High School in San Francisco. Shortly after she graduated, Angelou gave birth to her son, Clyde Bailey "Guy" Johnson. As a single mother she struggled to afford and sup-port herself and her son. Angelou supported her son by working as a waitress and a cook.

In 1952, at the age of 21, she married a Greek sailor Tosh Angelos and traded the waitress uniform for a microphone. She started singing. The marriage didn't last but her career flourished. Maya wrote her first album in 1957 titled "Calypso Lady".

In the early 1960's, Angelou became involved in the civil rights movement and dedi-cated herself to the cause of African-American freedoms and rights. She shared great relations with Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She became the Northern Coordi-nator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference which was requested by Martin Luther King