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Birth Name
Maya's birth name is Marguerite Johnson -
Birth
Maya Angelou was born on April 4th, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. -
Children
Maya had one son named Guy, who she gave birth to in 1945. -
Calypso Music
Maya composed an album called Miss Calypso in 1957, and she sang in all the songs on the album. -
Theatre
Maya starred in an Off-Broadway Show called The Blacks in 1959. She played the role of the White Queen. -
MLK's influence
In 1960, Maya became the Northern Coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference after she heard MLK speak on the Civil Rights Movement. -
And Still I Rise
And Still I Rise was Maya's third volume of poetry that was published in 1978 -
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes
All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes was Maya's fifth boook that was published in 1986. -
Presidential Inauguration
Maya read her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at the first inauguration of President Bill Clinton in 1993. -
Hallelujah! The Welcome Table
Maya wrote two cookbooks, the first being Hallelujah! The Welcome Table: A Lifetime of Memories with Recipes. This cookbook paired 28 essays about Angelou's life and 73 recipes. This was published in 2004. -
Mother Teresa Award
Maya received the Mother Teresa award in 2006, after being nominated by the public for this award. -
Epitaph
A year before Maya passed, she told the media that she wanted her tombstone to say this: "I did my best, I hope you do the same." -
Language
Not only was Maya Angelou fluent in English, she could also speak French, Spanish, Hebrew, Italian, and Fanti. -
Death
Maya died on May 28, 2014, in Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
