She landed a role in a touring production of Porgy and Bess, later appearing in the off-Broadway production Calypso Heat Wave (1957) and releasing her first album, Miss Calypso (1957).Ī member of the Harlem Writers Guild and a civil rights activist, Angelou organized and starred in the musical revue Cabaret for Freedom as a benefit for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, also serving as the SCLC's northern coordinator. In the mid-1950s, Angelou's career as a performer began to take off.

There she won a scholarship to study dance and acting at the California Labor School.Īlso during this time, Angelou became the first Black female cable car conductor - a job she held only briefly - in San Francisco. Educationĭuring World War II, Angelou moved to San Francisco, California. She returned to Arkansas and spent years as a virtual mute. So traumatized by the experience, Angelou stopped talking. As vengeance for the sexual assault, Angelou's uncles killed the boyfriend. She also suffered at the hands of a family associate around the age of 7: During a visit with her mother, Angelou was raped by her mother's boyfriend. Her parents split up when she was very young, and she and her older brother, Bailey, were sent to live with their father's mother, Anne Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.Īs an African American, Angelou experienced firsthand racial prejudices and discrimination in Arkansas. Early LifeĪngelou was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Angelou received several honors throughout her career, including two NAACP Image Awards in the outstanding literary work (nonfiction) category, in 20. Maya Angelou was an American author, actress, screenwriter, dancer, poet and civil rights activist best known for her 1969 memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, which made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by an African American woman.

Maya angelou letter to my daughter poem