© g. Paul Bishop 1954

MAYA ANGELOU
Poet/Author/Actress

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Significant Events: The First Decade 1928-1937

Born April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Marguerite Johnson, to Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson. Her brother, Bailey, gives her the name Maya.

Family moved to California when she was an infant.

At 3 ½ her parents divorce. She and brother move to Stamps, Arkansas to live with father’s mother, Annie Henderson.

At 7 ½ she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend, is mute for five years.

 

Significant Events: The Second Decade 1938-1947

1940: Graduate with honors from Lafayette country training School. Maya and her brother move to San Francisco to rejoin their mother, who had recently remarried. Maya had been active in school, church, and the family store.

While in high school she received a two-year scholarship to study dance and drama at the California Labor School.

1945: Gives birth to son, Guy Johnson. She is unmarried. Was the first black San Francisco streetcar conductor.

Late teens, supported herself as a Creole-style cook.

At 18: for two months, madam of two-woman whorehouse in San Diego.

 

Significant Events: The Third Decade 1948-1957

Early 50s, marries Tosh Angelos, a Greek sailor she met while working in a record shop in San Francisco.

Sometime early in the 50s, she bluffed her way into a job as a dancer and singer. She was a quick study whose winning way with audiences overcame any deficiencies in skill. She performed in the popular West Indian calypso style at the Purple Onion, a cabaret in San Francisco. It was there that she adopted the stage name Maya Angelou (her last name was a variation of her ex-husband’s surname).

Early 50s appeared in "Porgy and Bess," touring 22 nations in Europe and sponsored by the U.S. Department of State. Played the role of Ruby and was lead dancer.

Sometime during the 50s she was a dance partner of Alvin Ailey’s in the "Al & Rita Show."

1955: Taught modern dance at Habima Theatre inTel Aviv, Israel and Rome Opera House.

1957: Appears in the Off-Broadway play, "Calypso Heatwave" and records Miss Calypso for Liberty Records.

Sometime in the 50s she divorced Tosh.

In 1950s Maya studied dance with Martha Graham, drama with Frank Silvera and Gene Frankel, and music privately.

Late 50s,she moved to NYC, got involved with the political and literary scene there.

 

Significant Events: the Fourth Decade 1958-1967

1958: Through a friend, rented a Laurel Canyon in LA apartment because the landlord did not wish to rent to a black person.

1959-60: At the urging of Civil Rights leader Bayuard Rustin, Maya appointed Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.

1960: appears in Jean Genet’s all-black Obie award wining show, "The Blacks," an Off Broadway production, and she writes and performs in "Cabaret for Freedom" with Godfrey Cambridge, Off- Broadway.

1961: Left New York bond bailsman she had planned to marry and moves the Cairo, Egypt with Vusumzi Make, a South African dissident lawyer.

During her time in Africa, she was with the University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies, as assistant administrator of the School of Music and Drama, in Legon-Accra, Ghana; she also worked for the Ghanian Broadcasting Corporation and a freelance writer for the Ghanian Times.

She served as associate editor of the Arab Observer, as English-language news weekly in Cairo.

1964-66: Appeared in "Mother Courage" at the University of Ghana and in Jean Anouilh’s "Medca," in Hollywood. She wrote a two-act drama, "The Least of These," which is first produced in L.A.

Left Africa in 1966, after last serving as a feature editor at the African Review in Accra. For a short period, is a guest lecturer at UCLA.

1966-67: Maya writes a two-act drama, "The Clawing Within," and a two-act musical, "Adjoa Amissah," which were not published.

 

Significant Events: The Fifth Decade 1986-1977

1968: Narrates " Black! Blues! Black!" a 10 part television series on African tradition in American life, for the National Education Television.

1970: Appointed Writer-in-Residence at the University of Kansas, and a Yale University fellow. Publishes " I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings." Nominated for the National Book Award and is the first of her five-volume autobiographical series. The idea for writing the book came during a dinner conversation with James Baldwin and Jules Feiffer.

Also meets Paul Du Feu, the first near nude centerfold for Cosmopolitan Magazine, whom she marries three years later.

1971: Publishes "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'For I Diiie," a volume of poetry, which includes many of the lyrics from her 1969 recording of "The Poetry of Maya Angelou," for GWP Records.

1972: Writing the screenplay, "Georgia, Georgia," for Independent-Cinerama. Maya becomes the first black woman to have an original script produced.

She receives a Pulitzer Prize nomination for "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie."

Also serves as a television narrator, interviewer, and host of several African-American specials and theatre series.

Moved to Sonoma, California (the wine country).

1973: Makes her Broadway debut in "Look Away" and receives a Tony nomination.

Goes horseback riding for the first time while in Houston.

1974: Wrote the screenplay, "All Day Long." Serves as a Distinguished Visiting Professor at Wake Forest University, Wichita State University and California State University, Sacramento. She also adapts Sophocles "Ajax" a two-act drama, which is first produced in LA at the Mark Taper Forum. She writes her second autobiographical work, "Gather Together in My Name."

1975: Is selected a Rockefeller Foundation scholar in Italy, and is awarded honorary degrees from Smith College and Mills College.

President Ford appoints her to the American Revolution Council.

"Oh Pray My Wings Are 'Gonna Fits Me Well," a collection of poems is published.

Records "An Evening with Maya Angelou" for the Pacific Tape Library, and is appointed to the board of trustees of the American Film Institute.

February 2, 1976 becomes a grandmother through the arrival of Colin Ashanti Johnson.

1976: "Singin'; and Swing; and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas," her third autobiographical volume, is published. She writes two African-American television specials, "The Legacy and the "Inheritors."

She is name Woman of the Year in Communications by the Ladies Home Journal, and is awarded an honorary doctorate from Lawrence University.

Writes the play, "And Still I Rise" which is performed at the Ensemble Theatre in Oakland , California.

1977: Play Nyo Boto in "Roots" for which she is nominated for an Emmy.

Named by President Carter to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year.

For her documentary series, "Afro-American in the Arts," she receives the Coveted Golden Eagle Award from the Public Broadcasting System.

 

Significant Events: The Sixth Decade 1978 - 1987

1978: Publishes her third volume of poetry, "And Still I Rise."

1979: " I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is made into a movie for CBS-TV.

1980: Divorces Paul Du Feu.

1981: Publishes " The Heart of a Woman," the fourth work of her autobiographical series. She also records "Women in Business" for the University of Wisconsin.

Accepts the lifetime appointment as the Reynolds Professor of American Studies as Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.

1982: Writes teleplay "Sister, Sister," a dramatic rendering of lives of a middleclass black family; aired on NBC-TV.

1983: Publishes "Shaker, Why Don't You Sing," a collection of song like poems.

1984-85: Maya is named by Gov. James B. Hunt to the Board of the North Carolina Arts Council.

1986: "All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes," her fifth autobiographical work, chronicles her four-year sojourn in Ghana.

1987: Publishes "Now Sheba Sings the Song" with Tom Feelings, a distinguished artist and illustrator. She directs Errol John's play, "Moon a Rainbow Shawl," for Akuntunde Productions in London, England.

 

Significant Events: The Seventh Decade 1988 to the Present

1990: Publishes " I Shall Not Be Moved," another collection of poems.

1992: Receives the Horatio Alger award.

1993: Delivers powerful poem, "On the Pulse of Morning," written and read by Maya at the request of and at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton. It is the first time a poet had taken part in the event since Robert Frost spoke at President Kennedy's inauguration.

"Life Doesn't Frighten Me," a children's book, presents Maya's poems illustrated by paintings and drawings of Jean Michel Basquiat.

Publishes "Wouldn't Take Nothing For My Journey Now," a collection of essays on lessons in living.

Writes poetry for the John Singleton film "Poetic Justice".

1994: Receives Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word for Non-Musical Album for her inaugural poem.

Receives the NAACP's Spin garn Award which is presented annually to a man or woman of African descent for highest achievement during the preceding year or years in an honorable field or endeavor.

Publishes " My Painted House, My Friendly Chicken, and M," a children's book with photographs by Margaret Courtney-Clarke.

1995: Publishes "Phenomenal Woman," a collection of four poems celebrating women, which are considered to be among the most remembered and acclaimed of Maya's poems.

Participates in the first Million Man March.

Boycotts Jeopardy because the program does not include a sufficient number of black contestants.

Reads her poem "A Brave and Starling Truth," at the 50th anniversary of the founding of the United Nations in San Francisco; the poem is published later that year by Random House.

1996: Receives grimy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album for her poem, "Phenomenal Woman."

Writes for and performs with Ashford and Simpson on their romantic musical album, "Been Found," Hopsack & Silk Record, Inc.

Appointed a National Ambassador for the U.S. Committee for UNICEF.

1997: Publishes "Even the Stars Look Lonesome," a book of essays.

Has three books on the New York Times Best Seller Book List for 10 consecutive weeks.

February 1,1998 becomes a great grandmother through arrival of Caylin Nicole Johnson.

1998: Nominated for a Grammy for Best Spoken Word for "Even the Stars Look Lonesome."

Directs original screenplay by Myuron Goble, "Down in the Delta" for Showtime-TV movie.

 

Other Notes:

Has some 50 Honorary degrees, reportedly earns $15,000 per lecture and speaks French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic, and West African Fanti.

Maya does most of her writing in a rented hotel room near her home in Winston-Salem. She is usually tries to begin her writing by 5:30 a.m. In many of her lectures she discusses her writing process - "yellow pad," "Bible," bottle of sherry, a dictionary, Roget's Thesaurus and a deck of cards for solitaire. She says it's hard to work at home because the are too many distractions.

She is known for her cooking, and her gatherings of friends and family at her home which are legendary for their sumptuous abundance of good eats. She has a broad range of friends from Toni Morrison, Oprah Winfrey, Coretta Scott King, Quincy Jones, Shana Alexander, Norman Lear to just about the whole universe.

She likes to be called Ms. or Dr. Angelou by persons other that her close friends.

 

Dr. Maya Angelou

 

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