The Untold Story Of Maya Angelou

“There is no greater agony than bearing an untold story inside you.” This quote was told by Maya Angelou about the struggle that she had encountered as a child and eventually, when she wa ready, wrote a book and launched her career. Maya Angelou was extremely important and interesting person because she was involved and made a difference in this world.

On April 4, 1928, Maya Angelou was born. Although, that wasn’t birth name, her original name was Marguerite Annie Johnson. She was from St. Louis, Missouri but soon moved away. She got her first nickname when her brother, Bailey Jr., couldn’t say ‘Marguerite,’ so he said ‘Maya’ instead. Soon after they became a family, Maya’s parents, Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter Johnson, divorced. After …show more content…
They were close friends and Maya and others helped him by gathering whatever resources he needed, during the Civil Rights Movement. King requested that she should work, or serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. Within the SCLC, there was a play or live show called the “Carabet of Freedom.” She worked as the writer for the show, but after Bayard Rustin saw how good she was, he asked her to replace him and take over his job as co-producer. During this job was where she met and joined with other organizers and activists such as Malcolm X and Asa Philip Randolph. In 1968, on her 40th birthday, Martin Luther King Jr was assassinated. Since that day and every anniversary date the next years, Maya sent flowers to Coretta Scott King in loving memory of her friend, and Coretta’s husband. This continued until Coretta died in 2006. Prior to his death, he and Maya had been planning the “Poor People’s Campaign,” which was, as it sounds, a campaign for economic justice for poor people. King asked Angelou to accompany him on the national tour to promote the initiate and she said yes, but it never happened. Another figure in her life, although this one wasn’t as prominent, was Nelson Mandela. She supported him before, during, and after his long captivity and they were lifelong friends. The last figure she worked with was Malcolm X. In 1963, she was in Ghana and there …show more content…
James Baldwin, an African-American author, had encouraged her to start writing with her feelings and tell her story. First, she wrote, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, published in 1969, which was the autobiography that I read. In it, she tells the story of her childhood and how she had believed that her words were what killed the man, when she was younger, but now, being the “caged bird” and “singing.” Another poem that she wrote in 1993 and is know for is called, “On the Pulse of Morning.” She wrote this poem especially for President Bill Clinton’s inaugural ceremony, and she recited it there, too. The second autobiography was called Gather Together in my Name, she wrote this about the struggles of being a single parent while she was raising her son. She also had additional works, which most consider her “Top 10,” which are The Heart of a Woman and All God’s Children Need Traveling Shoes. She had many awards for her words and works. In 1995, she was The New York Times’ paper-back nonfiction bestseller, for two years, the longest record in history. She also won the Coretta Scott King Award in 1971 for African-American Authors of Books for Children and Young People. Lastly, she won a Grammy in 1995 for ‘Best Spoken Word or Non-Musical Album.’ Not only did she leave the world with these awards, but she also left quite the