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Birth
Angelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri -
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Early Life
When Angelou was around the age of eight, she was sexually assaulted by her mother's boyfriend at the time. Her uncles eventually killed her assailant and she became essentially mute for the next five years -
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Marriage
Angelou married Tosh Angelos, a Greek electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother -
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Following Marriages
Notoriously secretive about her marriages, Angelou was likely married at least three times, including in 1973 to a carpenter, Paul du Feu. -
Acting and Singing Career
In the mid-1950s, Angelou's career as a performer began to take off. She landed a role in a touring production of Porgy and Bess, later appearing in the off-Broadway production Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and releasing her first album, Miss Calypso (1957). -
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Time in Africa
Angelou spent much of the 1960s abroad, living first in Egypt and then in Ghana, working as an editor and a freelance writer. Angelou also held a position at the University of Ghana for a time. In Ghana, she also joined a community of "Revolutionist Returnees” exploring pan-Africanism and became close with human rights activist and Black nationalist leader Malcolm X. -
Maya Angelou Books
'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' (1969)
Friend and fellow writer James Baldwin urged Angelou to write about her life experiences. The resulting work was the enormously successful 1969 memoir about her childhood and young adult years, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. The story made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman. The book, which made Angelou an international star, continues to be regarded as her most popular autobiographical work. -
Maya Angelou Poems
'Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Die' (1971)
Angelou published several collections of poetry, but her most famous was 1971’s collection Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die, which was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize. -
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Screenplay Author and Director
After publishing Caged Bird, Angelou broke new ground artistically, educationally, and socially with her drama Georgia, Georgia in 1972, which made her the first African American woman to have her screenplay produced. In 1998, seeking new creative challenges, Angelou made her directorial debut with Down in the Delta, starring Alfre Woodard. -
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Acting and Singing Awards
Angelou went on to earn a Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away (1973) and an Emmy Award nomination for her work on the television miniseries Roots (1977), among other honors. -
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Accomplishments and Awards
Angelou's career has seen numerous accolades, including the Chicago International Film Festival's 1998 Audience Choice Award and a nod from the Acapulco Black Film Festival in 1999 for Down in the Delta. She also won two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, for her 2005 cookbook and 2008's Letter to My Daughter. -
Death
After experiencing health issues for a number of years, Angelou died on May 28, 2014, at her home in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.