Mayapic

Maya Angelou Time

By izzymuseck

  • Maya Angelou was Born. Her birth name was Marguerite Annie Johnson.

  • Maya's parents marriage ended

    Maya and her brother were sent to live with her father's mother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas

  • Maya and Bailey (her brother) were returned to the care of their mother in St. Louis

  • Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman

    The shock made Maya mute and the children were sent back to live with their grandmother once again

  • Maya and her brother returned to live with her mother in San Francisco

    During this time, she attended George Washington High School and studied dance and drama on a scholarship at the California Labor School

  • Teacher Bertha Flowers helped Maya to talk again and encouraged her interest in literature

  • Maya dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor

  • Maya returned to high school

    During this time Maya became pregnant and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home to bring up her son as a single mother working as a waitress and cook

  • Angelou's career as a performer began to take off

    She began her career as a nightclub singer and during this time took the name Maya Angelou
  • Period: to

    Maya toured in a production of Porgy and Bess

  • Maya appeared in the off-Broadway production, Calypso Heat Wave and released her first album, Miss Calypso

  • Maya moved to New York and joined the Harlem Writers Guild after developing her writing and poetry skills

  • Maya became involved with Civil Rights Activists

    At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference

  • Maya moved, to Cairo, Egypt and worked as editor of the English language weekly, The Arab Observer

    Maya is fluent in 6 different languages and is able to speak French, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, English, and Fanti

  • Maya Angelou moves to Ghana

    Angelou continued her work as a journalist and also worked as an administrator at the University of Ghana. Also during this time Malcolm X visited Ghana and she met with him and he inspired​ her to move back to the US.

  • Maya returns to America hoping to help Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity

  • Maya begins writing her autobiographical book "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"

  • Maya's autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is published

  • Maya Angelou became the first African-American woman to have her screenplay produced, "Georgia, Georgia"

  • Maya publishes her book, "Gather Together in My Name"

  • Maya is appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford.

  • Maya publishes "Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas"

  • Maya is appointed by President Jimmy Carter to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year

  • Maya Angelou published another autobiography, "The Heart of a Woman"

  • Maya Angelou was named Wake Forest University's first Reynolds Professor of American Studies

  • Maya receives the Langston Hughes Medal

  • Maya Angelou reads her poem, "On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton

  • Maya Angelou wins a grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album," "On The Pulse of Morning"

  • Maya receives the Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Association National Award

  • Maya publishes, " All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes."

  • Maya Angelou publishes, " A Song Flung Up to Heaven"

  • Maya Angelou receives the Mother Teresa Award

  • Angelou's eighth autobiographical book, "Mom & Me & Mom", a tribute to her mother and grandmother, is published

  • Maya Angelou Dies