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Birthplace: St. Louis Missouri
Birthdate: April 4th, 1928
Birth name: Marguerite Johnson -
In this eight year of her life, Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend. This led to him being prosecuted and placed in prison for only a day. Several weeks later, he was found murdered most likely by Maya's uncles.
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Maya's first son was born in 1944. He now goes by the name Guy Johnson. His father was a high school partner of Maya's.
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Maya recorded her first album in 1957. It is titled "Lady Calypso."
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Martin Luther King Jr. asked Maya in this year to become the northern director of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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In this timespan, Maya and her partner along with her son Guy lived in both Cairo, Egpyt and Ghana. She worked in Ghana at the University of Ghana
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On this day, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. died in Memphis, Tennessee. Maya was a close friend of the civil rights leader and did not celebrate her birthday for years to follow. She did not celebrate because the two anniversaries fell on the same day. Instead, she sent flowers to Coretta Scott King, MLK's widow until she died in 2006.
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Maya's first book, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" was published in 1969. This memoir details her life from age 3 to about 16. It was the first nonfiction best seller by an African American woman.
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Angelou preformed her poem, "On the Pulse of Morning" at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton. She became the second poet to recite a poem at an inauguration. The recording of this poem won her a Grammy for "Best Spoken Word."
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Maya became a director of her first movie in 1998, creating new creative challenges for herself. It is called, "Down in the Delta" and stars Alfred Woodard.
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Maya received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barak Obama in 2010. This is the highest civilian honor that the President can give to a citizen.
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