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Marguerite Johnson, later to be called Maya Angelou, was born in Saint Louis, Missouri to Bailey and Vivian Johnson.
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Angelou's parent's marriage ended and her and her brothers were sent to live with their father's mother in Stamps, Arkansas.
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Angelou returned to her mother in Saint Louis and was raped and molested by her mother's boyfriend. As vengeance for the sexual assault, Angelou's uncle killed the boyfriend.
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Due to being sexually assaulted and her attacker being killed by the hands of a family member, Angelou became mute for the next 5 1/2 years.
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Angelou dropped out of high school to become San Francisco's first African American female cable car conductor. Just before dropping out, a teacher helped Angelou to begin to talk again and began to encourage Angelou's interest in literature.
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Maya returned back to school and later graduated.
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Maya gave birth to her son, Guy. She left home and became a waitress to support her son.
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Angelou married a Greek Sailor named Tosh Angelous. She used his surname to create her stage name when she became a nightclub singer. The marriage ended soon.
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Angelou released her first album, Miss Calypso.
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Angelou began to dive into her poetry; moving to New York and becoming a part of the Harlem Writers Guild.
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Angelou became involved with Civil Rights Activists.
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Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. requested that Angelou become the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference.
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Met the South African Civil Rights Activist, Vusumzi Make, and moved to Cairo, Egypt with him and her son, Guy. Angelou worked as the editor of the Arab Observer.
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Angelou returned to America at the request of Malcolm X to build his group, the Organization of African American Unity.
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Malcolm X is assassinated and Angelou began her work on her memoir, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.
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I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings is published.
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Receives the Chubb Fellowship Award at Yale University.
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Receives the Pulitzer Prize Nomination for "Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Die"
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Angelou marries Paul du Feu and moves to California with him and her son to work on writing and acting.
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Appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford
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Receives the Ladies' Home Journal Award; "Women of the Year in Communication"
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Receives the Golden Eagle Award, "Afro-American in the Arts"
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Divorces Paul du Feu
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Met Oprah Winfrey and became her friend and mentor.
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Receives the Fulbright Program 40th Anniversary Distinguished Lecturer award
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Receives the Langston Hughes Medal
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Angelou reads her poem " On the Pulse of Morning" at the inauguration of President Bill Clinton.
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Recites poem "From a Black Woman to a Black Man" at the Million Man March on Washington
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Receives the King Jr. Legacy Association National Award
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Receives the National Medal of Arts
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NAACP Image in Outstanding Literary Work
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Receives the Mother Teresa Award
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Became the first recipient of Hope for Peace and Justice- Voice of Peace Award
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2nd time receiving the NAACP Image in Outstanding Literary Work
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Maya Angelou is awarded Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Barack Obama
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Passes away at her home in North Carolina
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Maya Angelou was one the most influential voices of her time, giving and literary and political voice to African-American women. She used her poetry as an outlet to reach individuals of all ethnicity and sex and broaden their perspective of what it was like to be an African-American women. Even today she gives a voice to young, aspiring women and continues to me a role model for them all.
