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Why Is Maya Angelou Important

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Maya Angelou was a strong African-American women who made an influential impact on the Civil Rights Movement, in bother her actions, and her literature. Her life experiences and courage helped others, and made her work influential. During Maya’s early life, she experienced many hardships that shaped her into the person many remember her as. Born on April 4, 1928, she only lived in St. Louis, MO for three years before her parents got divorced, and Maya, along with her mother and brother, moved in with her grandparents in Arkansas. At the age of eight, raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Maya learned the power that words possess. After informing her family of this traumatizing encounter, the perpetrator was hunted down and beaten to death. Maya didn’t speak for the next five years. Maya found joy in singing, dancing, and poetry, after moving to San Francisco in 1940. However, this joy was put on hold after having a son at age 16, and moving to San Diego. Being young and reckless waitress, Maya got tangled in drugs, prostitution, and strip dancing. In 1954, Maya had a stroke of luck after being discovered by a theater group at the strip club. Touring 22 countries …show more content…

In Maya’s life she wrote seven autobiographies, three books of essays, and many books of poetry. The storyteller style writing paired with description and emotion, created an something right here about her books and shit. She earned the Chubb Fellowship Award, Pulitzer Prize Nomination, Ladies ' Home Journal Award, Golden Eagle Award, Afro-American in the Arts, Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer award, Langston Hughes Medal, Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album", Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Association National Award, Mother Teresa Award, and was the First recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace

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April 4, 1929, St. Louis, Missouri was the birth of the multitalented, Marguerite Annie Johnson. Family of Marguerite is mother, Vivian Baxter Johnson, father, Bailey Johnson, and brother, Bailey Johnson, Jr. Later in the early twenties of Marguerite Johnsons’ life, she changed her name to Maya Angelou. Since the divorce of Maya’s parents, her life has been nothing but an uncontrollable rollercoaster. As a youth, Maya Angelou had to eventually overcome her strugglers and regain what she once lost years ago when troubled occurred.

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She also formed a dance team with Alvin Ailey and Ruth Beckford called “Al and Rita” and performed modern dance at fraternal black organizations throughout San Francisco. In 1954, after Marguerite’s marriage ended, she became a professional dancer in clubs around San Francisco. It was around this time she decided to change her professional name to Maya Angelou. Maya toured Europe during 1954-1955 with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess. During the tour, she learned many languages and gained proficiency in several languages.

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Maya’s Ties with God Have you ever heard of Tupac cry, Maya Angelou was one, if not the only one who made him. Maya Angelou is one of the biggest voices of the 21st century. She does not talk, but she speaks, and she mostly speaks in the language of love. The reason? God.

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When thinking of a historical figure, many imagine a president, king, or general that lead a country to greatness, but never realized some could be the ones who influence the minds of society. Although not thought of as anything, writers and poets hold the key to shaping the society’s mindset without even knowing it. Being a civil rights activist, social activist, and role model for women makes Maya Angelou a historical figure who has made a huge impact in American society and in American history. Born poor and black, she was a childhood victim of rape, shamed into silence. She was a young single mother who had to work at strip clubs for a living.

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Maya Angelou, originally named Marguerite was born on April 4th, in St. Louis, Missouri, and died on May 28, 2014. She has a brother, Bailey, who were both sent to live with their fathers mother, Anne Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas, when Maya was about 3 years old. This was because her parents split up at around that time. About 4 years

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Maya Angelou, an award winning poet once said, ”We may encounter many defeats but we must not be defeated.” She out of all people would be the one to know that. People would try and put her down because of her race, but she didn’t let them stop her. With a little determination and a whole lot of hard work, she was, and still is, one of the most famous poets ever.

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Mrs.Bertha Flowers, her high-school teacher, and close family friend, was the one who helped her speak again, and who introduced her to the work of these writers. upon finishing school, Maya received a scholarship to study dance and drama, but she never used it. 3 weeks after completing school, she gave birth to her first son . She published her second autobiography, called “Gather Together in my Name”, at the end of the forties. In it, she described her early, difficult financial life.

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Maya Angelou worked as a professor at Wake Forest University, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, from 1991 to 2014. As an African American women, one whose life was full of racial discrimination and gender inequality, she had plenty of experience and wisdom to share with her students. During her time working at the university, she taught a variety of humanities courses such as “World Poetry in Dramatic Performance,” “Race, Politics and Literature,” “African Culture and Impact on U.S.,” and “Race in the Southern Experience” (Wake Forest University,

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Maya Angelou (1928-2014) was born in St. Louis Missouri to Bailey Johnson and Vivian Johnson. She spent her childhood in Stamps, Arkansas when the community was racially marginalized. She was honored by universities, literary organizations, government agencies etc, for her prolific work. Her book I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings was nominated for a National Book Award and her book of poetry, Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ’fore I Die was nominated for Pulitzer Prize in 1972, Tony Award nomination for her role in the play Look Away in 1973, Matrix award in 1983 for excelling in the field of communication, Golden Plate Award in 1990 for accomplishments in sciences, business, industry, arts, literature, sports, entertainment, and public service, Inaugural Poet and three Grammys for her spoken albums in 1993,

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A work of Maya Angelou was deeply influenced by her early life due to what happened at this time of her life. When she was seven she went to Chicago, Illinois to visit her mother since she lived with her brother at her paternal grandmother’s house. While visiting her mother in this time, her mother’s boyfriend raped her. Too afraid to tell anyone, Maya Angelou told her brother and in result her brother told their uncles. Their uncles killed her mother’s boyfriend out of rage, and this made Maya Angelou mute for five years until she met someone very important; Mrs. Flowers.

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