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Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in Saint Louis, Missouri.
Her parents were Bailey and Vivian Baxter Johnson -
Maya's parents ended their marriage and her and her brother were sent to live with her fathers mom.
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Maya was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. The shock made Maya mute and the children were sent back to live with their grandmother once again after moving back with their mother for a short period of time
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Maya and her brother returned to live with her mother in San Francisco where she attended George Washington High School and studied dance and drama on a scholarship at the California Labor School
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Maya's teacher, Bertha Flowers helped her to talk again and encouraged her interest in literature
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After dropping out of school for a year, Maya returned to high school, but became pregnant and graduated a few weeks before giving birth to her son, Guy. She left home to bring up her son as a single mother working as a waitress and cook
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She began her career as a nightclub singer and during this time took the name Maya Angelou
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Maya recorded an album called Miss Calypso
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Developed her skills in writing poetry and moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild
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She became involved with Civil Rights Activists
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At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., Maya Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
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She met the South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make, the two of them and and Guy moved, to Cairo, Egypt. In Cairo, Maya Angelou worked as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. She later moved to Ghana
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Returned to America hoping to help Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity
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Malcolm X is assassinated and Maya began working on her Autobiographical book 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is published
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1970-Chubb Fellowship Award (Yale Unversity)
1972-Pulitzer Prize Nomination
1976-Ladies' Home Journal Award
1977-Golden Eagle Award
1986-Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distingued Lecturer award
1991-Langston Hughes Medal
1993- Grammy (Best Spoken Word Album)
1996-Martin Luther King, Jr Legacy Association National Award
2006-Mother Teresa Award
2008-Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award -
Met Oprah Winfrey and became her friend and mentor
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Maya Angelou reads her poem On the Pulse of Morning at inauguration of President Bill Clinton
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her eighth autobiographical book, "Mom & Me & Mom", a tribute to her mother and grandmother is published
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Maya Angelou passes away at her home in North Carolina
