-
Maya Angelou was born on this day in St. Louis, Missouri. Her real name was Marguerite Annie Johnson. She's the second child of Bailey Jonhson and Vivian Johnson.
-
Her parents divorced when she was three, and her and her brother went to live with their grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas
-
Maya and her brother, Bailey Johnson Jr., went back to St. Louis to live with their mother and her mother's boyfriend.
-
When she was eight, she was raped by her mother’s boyfriend. When she revealed what happened, her uncles kicked the culprit to death. Angelou was frightened and chose not to speak for the next five years.
-
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
-
Maya dropped out of school to work as a cable car conductor. She was the first African-American woman to have this job!
-
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.
-
She married a Greek sailor named Tosh Angelos but the marriage quickly failed.
-
She began her career as a nightclub singer and during this time took the name Maya Angelou.
-
Toured in a production of Porgy and Bess.
-
Maya recorded her first album, Calypso Lady.
-
Maya joined the Harlem Writers Guild in NYC and then began to develop her passion for writing poetry.
-
She met the South African civil rights activist Vusumzi Make and in 1960, the couple 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.
-
Maya returns to America and she begins to assist Malcolm X with civil rights movements for African-Americans.
-
Maya begins to write her autobiography, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". Also, she writes a PBS television series called, Black, Blues, Black. During this year Malcolm X, a very close friend of Maya's, was assassinated.
-
Maya Angelou's first autobiography, "I Know Why The Caged Bird Sings," is published.
-
Maya Receives the Chubb Fellowship Award, Yale University.
-
Maya Receives the Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Just Give Me A Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die.
-
Maya Angelou married Paul du Feu and moved with him and her son to Sonoma, California. She then worked on her writing and acting.
-
Maya published, "Gather Together in My Name".
-
Maya published, "Singin’ and Swingin’ and Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas".
-
Maya Receives the Ladies' Home Journal Award ("Woman of the Year in Communication")
-
Maya Receives the Golden Eagle Award, Afro-American in the Arts.
-
Maya divorces her husband Paul du Feu.
-
Published The Heart of a Woman, It talks about how she and her son moved with her husband at the time. She also talks about what her relationship is between her and her son.
-
Maya met Oprah Winfrey and became her friend and mentor
-
Maya Receives Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer award.
-
Maya Receives Langston Hughes Medal
-
Maya Angelou reads her poem On the Pulse of Morning at inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
-
Grammy for "Best Spoken Word Album," "On The Pulse of Morning,"
-
In 1996 Martin Luther King, Jr. Legacy Association National Award
-
Published All Gods Children Need Traveling Shoes.It explains what Maya has done when she was in Africa. It ends when she writes about how she lost her son in a horrible car accident.
-
Maya Published A Song Flung Up to Heaven. It talks about what Maya felt when she came back to America. It also talks about how Maya began to involve herself with civil rights activists and the pain she felt when when Malcolm X was killed.
-
Maya receives the Mother Teresa Award. This award is a way to recognize those who help the world with what they do. Many who receive this award consider it one of the greatest achievements they have ever be given.
-
Maya Angelou became a radio talk show host for the first time hosting a weekly show for XM Satellite Radio's Oprah & Friends channel.
-
Maya Becomes the first recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice Voice of Peace award.
-
Maya Angelou was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom on February 15, 2011 by President Barack Obama.
-
Maya Angelou died on the morning of May 28, 2014, according to a family statement. She was found by her nurse. Although Angelou had reportedly been in poor health and had canceled recent scheduled appearances, she was working on another book, an autobiography about her experiences with national and world leaders.
