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Period: to
Move to San Francisco, CA
Parents move from St. Louis to San Francisco -
Birth
Marguerite Annie Johnson is born in St. Louis, MO -
Period: to
Maya Angelou Life
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Maya is raped by her mother's boyfriend Mr. Freeman
The effects of this event is oulined in her novel "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" -
Maya Becomes first female African-American cable car conductor
While a high school student, studies drama and dance on scholarship at the California Labor School, a college for adults. Drops out to become San Francisco's first female African-American cable car conductor. -
Released only album, "Miss Calypso"
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Writes, directs, and performs play "Cabaret for Freedom"
Writes, produces, directs and performs in a musical revue, "Cabaret for Freedom," to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). -
Publishes "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings"
"I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings" is published. It is later broadcast on national television in 1979, with a script and musical score written by Angelou. -
Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize
for "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie." -
Appears in "Roots"
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Wins Grammy for Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album for "On The Pulse Of Morning."
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Recites her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" at Clinton inauguration
at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton, becoming the second poet to participate in a president's inauguration after Robert Frost read at President John F. Kennedy's 1961 ceremony. -
Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama.
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Writes eighth and final Autobiography "Mom & Me & Mom"
a tribute to her mother and grandmother, is published.
