Poems Maya Angelou

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The poet now known as Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri, on April 4, 1928. However, her name is the least of what has changed in the years since her birth. Maya Angelou overcame poverty, racism, and sexual abuse to become not only an accomplished poet and author of songs, plays, and autobiographical books, but also a performer and producer on both the stage and screen.

Angelou is most famous for the books and poetry she produced during the mid-1960’s through the late 1970’s, including:
Gather Together in My Name (1974)
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969, nominated for the National Book Award)
Oh Pray My Wings Are Gonna Fit Me Well (poetry, 1975)
Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie (1971, nominated for the Pulitzer prize)

These volumes, like most of her work, are largely autobiographical in context; detailing a rough childhood in rural, segregated Stamps, Arkansas, where she faced pre-Civil Rights-era racism from southern whites, sexual abuse, and a teenage pregnancy, these books found a large audience in the wake of both the Civil Rights movement and the burgeoning women’s movement of the 1970s.

Angelou’s work both as a writer and an activist has been recognized throughout the world. Martin Luther King, Jr. appointed her to the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, a Civil Rights organization, in the late 1950s. She was appointed by President Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission in 1976, and by President Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the Year. At his request, she composed and read a poem at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.

Although she made her name as an author, Angelou also counts among her accomplishments being the first female African-American to direct her own work in Hollywood. A triple threat, she has written, directed, and starred in many productions on both stage and screen.
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