Born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri, as Marguerite Annie Johnson. Maya Angelou was an American author, poet, dancer, actress, and singer. She was also a civil right activist. At a young age, Maya Angelou was raped and she later wrote a book about that experience titled “I know Why the Caged Birds Sing”. Which made literary history as the first nonfiction best-seller by an African-American woman. She won many honors such as the Pulitzer Prize and the Presidential Medal of Freedom Conceived on June 17, 1871 in Jacksonville, Florida, James Weldon Johnson was urged by his mom to study English writing and the European musical convention. He went to Atlanta University, with the trust that the instruction he got there could be utilized to further the hobbies of African Americans. In the wake of graduating, he accepted an occupation as a secondary school essential in Jacksonville. In 1900, he composed the melody "Lift Every Voice and Sing" on the event of Lincoln's birthday; the tune was massively well known operating at a profit group, and got to be known as the "Negro National Anthem." …show more content…
At the time, she wrote mostly when she was angry. As she wrote, her teachers acknowledged her talent for witting. As a result, she was motivated to write more and more. Currently she writes to express her emotions and her feelings. Gugu Mbatha-Raw was conceived as Gugulethu Sophia Mbatha in Oxford, England in the year 1983. In Zulu, her name Gugulethu implies our pride. She was destined to an English nurse, mother, Anne Raw and a doctor, father, Patrick Mbatha. She was raised by her Caucasian mother after her dad left her. She was brought up in Witney, a residential area in Oxfordshire. Gugu joined The Henry Box School in Oxfordshire and began her career in the Acting world. This song is almost a sequel to the same titled song “ Blackbird” by Nina Simone. It first appeared on the movie “ Beyond the lights”