Maya Angelou: An African-American Poet

Marguerite Johnson, known as Maya Angelou, was not only famous for writing poetry but she also served as a Civil Rights Activist. Her other occupations were being an actress, dancer, including an exotic dancing (Maya Angelou Is Born), and an author. When she was working at the strip club a theatre group which help her with her acting career. They helped her get a role in the infamous Porgy and Bess and Calypso Heat Wave (Maya Angelou Biography). Around that time, she started producing albums, which later got her a Grammy for Best Spoken Word Audio version, writing biographies, poetry. Later, in her adult life, she won two NAACP image awards, Emmy award, for the mini-series Roots, and three Grammy’s (Maya Angelou Biography). Unfortunately, She

Maya Angelou was an inspiring activist, poet, and woman. Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. Throughout her lifetime she explored her career options as an actress, dancer, singer, writer, and editor among many other careers. Angelou had a tough childhood. Her parents divorced when she was very young and she was sent to live with her grandmother in Arkansas along with her brother Bailey. As an African American, Angelou experienced discrimination and racial prejudices. Angelou gave birth to her son Guy, at the age of sixteen and married her first husband Tosh Angelos, at the age of twenty-four. Angelou and Tosh divorced years later however, she did get married a couple of more times. Angelou experienced many

The inspiring African-American woman born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri has been one of the many influential voices of our time. Educating herself and having love for the arts helped mold her life into what she imagined becoming a poet, memoirist, novelist, educator, dramatist, producer, actress, historian, filmmaker, and even a civil rights activist. During her early years while still in High School Dr. Angelou experienced brutal racial discrimination directing her to the values of traditional African-Americans.

In I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou, Angelou uses various stylistic devices and rhetorical strategies such as similes and metaphors. Angelou’s use of similes are used in order to describe her own character. In this, Angelou remarks “For nearly a year, I sopped around the house, the Store, the school and the church, like an old biscuit, dirty and inedible” showing that Angelou's inner feelings of not being good enough to be picked or loved. Correspondingly Angelou felt her skin looked “dirty like mud” showing her inner insecurities of her skin colour being unattractive. The sense of Angelou’s insecurities can also be seen with the use of metaphors regarding Angelou's skin as she remarked “I was described by our playmates

According to Cornel West and Henry Louis Gates in their book entitled, The African American Century: How Black Americans Have Shaped Our Lives, in her lifetime she wrote a total of seven poetry editions, two five autobiographies, four children’s books, a screenplay, and two essay collections (West and Gates 276). Her most acclaimed publication was her introspective novel, I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings, which was based on her childhood, growing up in a then segregated Missouri (West and Gates 276). Margalit Fox wrote in an article for the New York Times, this book was the first time anyone paid attention to a black woman’s autobiography (Fox). The narrative awakened a culture of “female self revelation” in 1970 (West and Gates 279). Because Angelou’s works examined concepts of race, identity, family, and community, which are still prevalent today, they have stood the test of time (Fox).

Regardless of the fact that Maya Angelou´s life was full of troubles and pain, she still arose from all and became one of the strongest writers and African American Activists. ¨ Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis Missouri on April 4th , 1928 . When her parents separated , her and her brother went off to live with their grandma in Stamps, Arkansas . Her grandmother was one of the very few African American who had own her own general store. Although her grandmother was a big part of her life especially when it came to self- confidence , unfortunately Maya had went to visit in St. Louis and happened to be raped by her mother's boyfriend at the age of eight. This made Maya Angelou feel completely worthless. When her uncles founded out that this happened, they went and beaten him to death . Although the man could never touch her again , Maya Angelou felt that it was her fault of his death due to telling his name . This made Angelou not speak for around 5 years. ¨

Maya Angelou, An African American poet, who has many legacy and dedication through her career as a writer, poet, songwriter, dancer and other. Maya angelou was born as Marguerite Johnson on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. But raised in Stamps, Arkansas, by her paternal Grandmother “Annie Henderson” Ms. Angelou early childhood experiences has been going through a lot of trauma which she the only option were find out motivation to express herself in writing. She died on May 28, 2014 at age of 86 in North Carolina. Thus, Maya Angelou parents, “Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter” were divorced when she was very young, while she attends to grow up in Arkansas with her paternal grandmother. Ms. Angelou father was a Bailey Johnson, was a “brash,

Poetry is by far, one of the greatest instruments that has been used to make powerful comments on controversial topics. I’m sure that most of the public don’t understand the importance of poetry or how it has shaped societies by unearthing injustices in plain display of the public.

Maya Angelou is one of the most distinguished African American writers of the twentieth century. Writing is not her only forte she is a poet, director, composer, lyricist, dancer, singer, journalist, teacher, and lecturer (Angelou and Tate, 3). Angelou’s American Dream is articulated throughout her five part autobiographical novels; I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Gather Together in my Name, Singin’ and Swingin’ and Getting’ Merry Like Christmas, The Heart of a Woman, and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes. Maya Angelou’s American Dream changed throughout her life: in I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings Maya’s American dream was to fit into a predominantly white society in small town

In spite of facing early setbacks that the average person likely would not recover from, genius poet, autobiographer, and playwright Maya Angelou turned her travail into brilliance and activism. Born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, Angelou personified resilience despite being raped by her mother´s boyfriend. In a violent turn of events, Angelou went on to testify against of her assailant and, as a result, her uncles found, beat, and murdered him. Due to extreme guilt and the magnitude of these early tragedies, Angelou became a voluntary mute up until she was about 13 years old (Maya 1). Although her childhood was full of tribulations, Angelou persevered and went on to graduate high school at 16 years old with honors and study drama and dance in college.

Maya Angelou’s poetry occupies a very special position in her development as a writer (Chow 1). As a child, Angelou went through five years of complete silence after she was raped at the age of seven years old, by a man named, Mr. Freeman. As a result of telling about her traumatic experience, her uncle’s literally kicked the man that raped her to death. Beings she spoke of her traumatic experience and the result of the man dying, she then imagined that her voice had the potential to kill. Thanks to her teacher, Bertha Flowers, at school Angelou started writing poetry as a means of expression of her life events through her poetry (Chow 1). Poetry thus played an essential part in the recovery of her voice, which in

Maya Angelou was born April 4, 1928. Her real name is Marguerite Johnson, but she later changed it to Maya. She was born in St. Louis, shortly after her birth her family up and move to Arkansaw. Maya grew up there in the rural parts of Arkansaw, and later married to a South African Freedom Fighter. She lived in Cairo with him, there she began her career as editor of the Arab Observer.

“A true hero isn’t measured by the size of his strength, but by the strength of his heart”, said Zeus, from the Disney movie Hercules. Many people associate heroes with physical powers like x-ray vision, mind control, and flight. But in reality, it is the qualities of a person that defines them as a hero. Fortitude, morality, and selflessness are all characteristics that separate heroes from the average human beings.

When you become an author, actress, screenwriter, dancer and a poet all at a young age I guess you are just bound for greatness.Maya Angelou found a way to open eyes and change lives, all with just her writings (Bio.com 2015). She grew up with the mindset of victory, because as she said, “If you don't like something, change it. If you can't change it, change your attitude” (BrainyQuote 2017).Maya Angelou's name actually derived from her childhood nickname,Maya, and a shortened version of Greek sailor,(Anastasios) Angelopulos (Bio.com 2015).Receiving over forty award during her career, I guess you can say she was one of the greatest black poets that ever lived (Liquid Search Editors 2017).

Maya Angelou (April 4, 1928-May 28, 2014) was an American author, actress, screenwriter dancer and poet. She was known for her memoir, I know Why the Caged Bird Sings (bibography.com). “Her parents divorced when she was only three and she was sent with her brother Bailey to live with their grandmother in the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. In Stamps, the young girl experienced the racial discrimination that was the legally enforced way of life in the American