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Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri
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Her parents marriage ended and Maya and her brother were sent to live with her father's mother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas
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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
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Teacher Bertha Flowers helped Maya to talk again and encouraged her interest in literature
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She dropped out of school in her teens to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor
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Maya returned to high school, but 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
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At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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She met the South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make and in 1960, the couple and Guy moved, to Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo, Maya Angelou worked as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. She later moved to Ghana
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Malcolm X is assassinated and Maya began working on her Autobiographical book 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' which is later published in 1970
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Published Gather Together in My Name
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She was named the University's first Reynolds Professor of American Studies
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Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album," "On The Pulse of Morning,"
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Angelou became the first African-American woman to recite a poem at a presidential inauguration, reading “On the Pulse of Morning” for Bill Clinton.
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Becomes the first recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award
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Maya Angelou passed away at the age of 86, leaving a legacy of poetry, activism, and inspirational storytelling.