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Maya is Born
Maya Angelou was born as Marguerite Johnson to Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson on April 4th, 1928 in St. Louis Missouri -
Divorce and Stamps
When Angelou was three years old, her parents divorced and Maya and Bailey were sent to live with their Grandmother and Uncle in Stamps Arkansas -
Mr. Freeman
While Angelou went to live with her mother for a time in St. Louis, her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman, raped her when she was only eight years old. She and Bailey were returned to Stamps shortly after. -
High School
While World War 2 raged in Europe, Angelou lived in San Francisco with her mother and Bailey and attended High school at George Washington High School and San Francisco's Labor School -
Jobs, Birth, and Graduation
Angelou learned how to talk again while in high school, however, she would then go on to leave high school and instead become the first African American female cable car conductor. She returned to high school eventually however and gave birth shortly after her graduation. -
Singer
Maya Angelou becomes a nightclub singer and officially changes her name from Marguerite Johnson to Maya Angelou because it was a better stage name. -
Life of Writing
Around this time, Angelou stopped her touring and singing and instead worked on her poetry, and as such, she joined the Harlem Writers Guild after moving to New York. -
Start of Maya's Civil Rights Life
In 1959, Angelou began to start her work in the Civil Right's movement, and at the behest of Martin Luther King Jr., she became the Northern Coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. -
Her Time in Africa
During this time of Angelou's life, she moved to Cairo Egypt and worked as editor for the Arab Observer. She also later moved on to live in Ghana. -
Autobiography
By the time 1970 came around Angelou had moved back to America and her autobiography, "I Know Why a Caged Bird Sings" is published. -
Presidential Poetry
Maya read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the Presidential inauguration of Bill Clinton -
A multitude of awards
Angelou won a multitude of awards and nominations during her time as a writer, but most notably was her winning a Grammy for the best-spoken word album for her "On the Pulse of Morning" -
Death
Maya Angelou died of what was reported as heart problems. She was 86 years old at the time