Maya Angelou
Maya Angelou was born in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson. She had an older brother named Bailey Jr. whom she loved dearly. Her family moved to California when she was an infant and at the age of three and a half her parents divorced. Maya and her brother were sent to live with their grandmother, Mrs. Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.Five years later at the age of seven and a half, Maya and her brother were sent back to St. Louis, to be with their mother. Tragically her mother's boyfriend raped her. She confided in her brother and unwillingly told him the name of her assailant. Several days later, the man was kicked to death, an apparent victim of the wrath of Maya's uncles. Believing that her words had killed him, Maya stopped talking. She was mute for five years and during this state trained herself to retain and recreate the different influences and events in her early childhood. No one could handle Angelou's state of melancholy and she was send back to Stamps. Her grandmother helped Maya throu
She sang and danced in many Broadway musicals, studied drama and toured Europe. Angelou's dysfunctional childhood led to problems during her adolescent years. Living as a struggling single mother she became the first black San Francisco streetcar conductor. A month later she moved back home to her mother. Taking the Maya from the nicknames her brother gave her, "My" or "Mine". In 1961 she left the USA to move to Africa and taught, wrote and danced at the University of Ghana. gh this difficult time and soon Maya developed into the confident, proud child she once was. In 1970 she began to publish many of her poems, screenplays, books and works of literature. Finding this way of life even harder, she began living in a car junkyard, which housed many homeless children. She also delivered the poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" at President Clinton's inauguration. The same year, she found herself a job as a dancer and a singer. She has 50 honorary degrees and fluently speaks English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and West African Fanti. Through her grandmother's influence, Maya had developed pride in her African American heritage and she gained the courage she needed to face the challenges. She speaks of the prejudice and humiliation she faced. Five years later she divorced Angelos, but adopted his name and became Maya Angelou.
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Acceptance Essays
