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Maya Angelou: Woman extraordinaire
By | February 18, 2008
Maya Angelou is one of those people who change the way others think and leave an impact on the world forever. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson in St Louis in Missouri on the 4th of April, 1928. She is multi faceted and is popular as a author, poet, songwriter, playwright, historian, dancer, stage and screen producer, performer, singer, director and importantly as a civil rights activist.
She is immensely popular for her books which are of an autobiographical nature including ‘The Heart of a woman’, ‘Gather together in my name’, ‘Singin and swingin and getting’ merry like christmas’ and ‘I know why the caged bird sings’ for which she was nominated for the National Book Award.
The poetry volumes for which she is best known include ‘A brave and startling truth’, ‘The complete collected poems of Maya Angelou’, ‘Now Sheba sings the song’, ‘I shall not be moved’ and many others. ‘Just give me a cool drink of water ‘fore I die’ was also nominated for the Pulitzer prize.
At the request of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. she agreed to become the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference in 1959 and was also the associate editor of the Arab Observer in Cairo for two years. After her return to the United States in 1974 she was appointed by General Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and later by Jimmy Carter to the Commission for International Woman of the year.
She happens to be the first black woman director in Hollywood and has written, produced and starred in many stage, television and film productions. She has also been nominated for a Tony twice; for her debut in Broadway in ‘Look Away’ in 1973 and for her role as Nya Boto in the television adaptation of Alex Haley’s ‘Roots’ in 1977.
Topics: Famous Poets |