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{{Short description|American writer and activist (1928–2014)}}
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{{Infobox writer
| image       = Angelou at Clinton inauguration (cropped 2).jpg
| caption     = Angelou in 1993
| birth_name  = Marguerite Annie Johnson
| birth_date  = {{Birth date|1928|4|4}}
| birth_place = [[St. Louis]], Missouri, U.S.
| death_date  = {{Death date and age|2014|5|28|1928|4|4}}
| death_place = [[Winston-Salem]], North Carolina, U.S.
| occupation  = {{cslist|Writer|poet|civil rights activist}}
| period      = 1951–2014
| subject     = {{cslist|Memoir|poetry}}
| website     = {{URL|www.mayaangelou.com}}
| spouses     = {{plainlist|
* {{marriage|Tosh Angelos|1951|1954|end=divorced}}
* {{marriage|[[Paul du Feu]]|1974|1983|end=divorced}}
}}
| children    = 1 <!-- Guy Johnson -->
| signature         = Maya_Angelou_Signature_from_the_Goldman_Collection.png
}}

'''Maya Angelou''' ({{IPAc-en|audio=En-us-Maya Angelou.ogg|ˈ|æ|n|dʒ|ə|l|oʊ}} {{Respell|AN|jə|loh}};<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/angelou_maya/pronun.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131217043543/http://www.swisseduc.ch/english/readinglist/angelou_maya/pronun.html|archive-date = December 17, 2013|title = Maya Angelou|date = December 17, 2013|publisher = SwissEduc.com}}</ref><ref>{{Cite magazine |title = Dr. Maya Angelou|date = December 2009|last = Glover|first = Terry|magazine = Ebony|issue = 2|page = 67|volume = 65}}</ref> born '''Marguerite Annie Johnson'''; April 4, 1928&nbsp;– May 28, 2014) was an American [[memoirist]], [[essayist]], [[poet]], and [[civil rights activist]]. She published seven autobiographies, three books of essays, several books of poetry, and is credited with a list of plays, movies, and television shows spanning over 50 years. She received dozens of awards and more than 50 honorary degrees.<ref name="whosehonor" /> Angelou's series of seven autobiographies focus on her childhood and early adult experiences. The first, ''[[I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings]]'' (1969), tells of her life up to the age of 17 and brought her international recognition and acclaim.

She became a poet and writer after a string of odd jobs during her young adulthood. In 1982, Angelou was named the first Reynolds Professor of American Studies at [[Wake Forest University]] in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina|Winston-Salem]], North Carolina. Angelou was active in the [[Civil Rights Movement]] and worked with [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and [[Malcolm X]]. Beginning in the 1990s, she made approximately 80 appearances a year on the [[lecture circuit]], something she continued into her eighties. In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "[[On the Pulse of Morning]]" (1993) at the [[first inauguration of Bill Clinton]], making her the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since [[Robert Frost]] at the [[inauguration of John F. Kennedy]] in 1961.

With the publication of ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'', Angelou publicly discussed aspects of her personal life. She was respected as a spokesperson for Black people and women, and her works have been considered a defense of [[African-American culture|Black culture]]. Her works are widely used in schools and universities worldwide, although attempts have been made to ban her books from some U.S. libraries. Angelou's most celebrated works have been labeled as [[Biography in literature#Autobiographical fiction|autobiographical fiction]], but many critics consider them to be autobiographies. She made a deliberate attempt to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre. Her books center on themes that include [[Racism in the United States|racism]], identity, family, and travel.

==Early life==
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://thestarphoenix.com/news/Angelou+optimism+overcame+hardships/9887987/story.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531112037/http://www.thestarphoenix.com/news/Angelou%2Boptimism%2Bovercame%2Bhardships/9887987/story.html |archive-date=May 31, 2014 |title=Angelou's optimism overcame hardships |last=Ferrer |first=Anne |date=May 29, 2014 |work=The Star Phoenix |access-date=May 30, 2014 |url-status=dead }}</ref> on April 4, 1928, in [[St. Louis]], Missouri, the younger of two children of Bailey Johnson, a doorman and navy dietitian, and Vivian (née Baxter) Johnson, a nurse and [[card dealer]].<ref name="lupton-4">Lupton, p. 4.</ref>{{refn|group=note|Angelou wrote about Vivian Baxter's life and their relationship in ''[[Mom & Me & Mom]]'' (2013), her final installment in her series of seven autobiographies.}} For the first three years of her life, her family lived in her [[Maya Angelou Birthplace|maternal grandparents home]]. Angelou's older brother, Bailey Jr., nicknamed Marguerite "Maya", derived from "My" or "Mya Sister".<ref>Angelou (1969), p. 67.</ref> When Angelou was three and her brother four, their parents' "calamitous marriage"<ref>Angelou (1969), p. 6.</ref> ended, and their father sent them to [[Stamps, Arkansas|Stamps]], Arkansas, alone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. In "an astonishing exception"<ref>{{Cite book|title = Racism in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings|last = Johnson|first = Claudia|publisher = Gale Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-7377-3905-3|location = Detroit, Michigan|editor-last = Johnson|editor-first = Claudia|chapter = Introduction|page = 11}}</ref> to the harsh economics of African Americans of the time, Angelou's grandmother prospered financially during the [[Great Depression]] and [[World War II]], because the [[general store]] she owned sold basic and needed commodities and because "she made wise and honest investments".<ref name="lupton-4" />{{refn|group=note|According to Angelou, Annie Henderson built her business with food stalls catering to Black workers, which eventually developed into a store.<ref>Angelou (1993), pp. 21–24.</ref>}}

Four years later, when Angelou was seven and her brother eight, the children's father "came to Stamps without warning"<ref>Angelou (1969), p. 52.</ref> and returned them to their mother's care in St. Louis. At the age of eight, while living with her mother, Angelou was sexually abused and raped by her mother's boyfriend, a man named Freeman. She told her brother, who told the rest of their family. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed for only one day. Four days after his release, he was murdered, probably by Angelou's uncles.<ref>{{cite book |title=Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook |url=https://archive.org/details/mayaangelousikno00joan |url-access=registration |author=Braxton |publisher=Oxford University Press |year=1999 |page=[https://archive.org/details/mayaangelousikno00joan/page/121 121] |isbn=978-0-19-511607-6|first = Joanne M.}}</ref> Angelou became mute for almost five years,<ref>Lupton, p. 5.</ref> believing she was to blame for his death; as she stated: "I thought, my voice killed him; I killed that man, because I told his name. And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone."<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml|title = Maya Angelou I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings|date = October 2005|access-date = December 17, 2013|work = [[World Book Club]]|publisher = [[BBC World Service]]|archive-date = June 3, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170603122300/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml|url-status = live}}</ref> According to [[Marcia Ann Gillespie]] and her colleagues, who wrote a biography about Angelou, it was during this period of silence when Angelou developed her extraordinary memory, her love for books and literature, and her ability to listen and observe the world around her.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 22.</ref>

{{quote box |align=left |width=25em |quote=To know her life story is to simultaneously wonder what on earth you have been doing with your own life and feel glad that you didn't have to go through half the things she has. |salign=right |source=''[[The Guardian]]'' writer [[Gary Younge]], 2009<ref name="younge2" />}}

Shortly after Freeman's murder, when Angelou was eight and her brother nine, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 21–22.</ref> She attended the [[Lafayette County Training School]], in Stamps, a [[Rosenwald School]].<ref>{{cite news|last1=Jannol|first1=Hannah|date=December 7, 2017|title=The Little Known Story of How a Jewish Sears Exec. Helped His African-American Neighbors|url=https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/educating-every-child/|work=New York Jewish Week|access-date=July 9, 2021|archive-date=April 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210406132353/https://jewishweek.timesofisrael.com/educating-every-child/|url-status=live}}</ref> Angelou credits a teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. Bertha Flowers, with helping her speak again, challenging her by saying: "You do not love poetry, not until you speak it."<ref>{{Cite news|date=May 28, 2014|title='Fresh Air' Remembers Poet And Memoirist Maya Angelou|publisher=NPR|url=https://www.npr.org/2014/05/28/316707321/fresh-air-remembers-poet-and-memoirist-maya-angelou|access-date=July 9, 2021|archive-date=July 9, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210709184908/https://www.npr.org/2014/05/28/316707321/fresh-air-remembers-poet-and-memoirist-maya-angelou|url-status=live}}</ref> Flowers introduced her to [[Charles Dickens]], [[William Shakespeare]], [[Edgar Allan Poe]], [[Georgia Douglas Johnson]], and [[James Weldon Johnson]], authors who would affect Angelou's life and career, as well as Black female artists such as [[Frances Harper]], [[Anne Spencer]], and [[Jessie Fauset]].<ref name="angelou-13">Angelou (1969), p. 13.</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., p. 23.</ref><ref name="lupton-15">Lupton, p. 15.</ref>

When Angelou was 14 and her brother 15, she and her brother moved in once again with their mother, who had since moved to [[Oakland, California|Oakland]], California. During [[World War II]], Angelou attended the [[California Labor School]]. At the age of 16, she became the first Black female [[streetcar<!--not cable car-->]] conductor in San Francisco.<ref>{{cite web |title=Maya Angelou {{!}} Market Street Railway |url=https://www.streetcar.org/tag/maya-angelou/ |website=Market Street railway |date=February 1, 2021 |access-date=June 10, 2021 |archive-date=June 10, 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210610202008/https://www.streetcar.org/tag/maya-angelou/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., p. 28.</ref><ref name=Brown2014>{{cite news |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/03/12/why-maya-angelou-wanted-to-become-a-street-car-conductor/ |title=Why Maya Angelou wanted to become a street car conductor |author=Brown, DeNeen L. |date=March 12, 2014 |newspaper=[[The Washington Post]] |access-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-date=June 26, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180626192214/https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/she-the-people/wp/2014/03/12/why-maya-angelou-wanted-to-become-a-street-car-conductor/ |url-status=live }}</ref><ref name="Fernandez2014">{{cite news |last1=Fernandez |first1=Lisa |title=Maya Angelou Was 1st Black, Female San Francisco Street Car Conductor |url=https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Maya-Angelou-Was-1st-Black-San-Francisco-Cable-Car-Conductor-260930551.html |access-date=September 27, 2018 |work=[[NBC]] |date=May 28, 2014 |archive-date=September 28, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180928003336/https://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Maya-Angelou-Was-1st-Black-San-Francisco-Cable-Car-Conductor-260930551.html |url-status=live }}</ref> She wanted the job badly, admiring the uniforms of the operators,<ref name=Brown2014/><ref name="Fernandez2014"/> describing the women in uniform as having “their little money-changing belts and with bibs on their caps and well-fitted uniforms”<ref>{{Cite web |last=Robertson |first=Michelle |date=November 18, 2021 |orig-date= |title=Maya Angelou fibbed about her age to become a San Francisco streetcar conductor |url=https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/maya-angelou-sf-streetcar-conductor-16625972.php |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230806074019/https://www.sfgate.com/local/article/maya-angelou-sf-streetcar-conductor-16625972.php |archive-date=August 6, 2023 |access-date=July 23, 2024 |website=The San Francisco Gate}}</ref> —so much so that her mother referred to it as her "dream job".<ref name="Fernandez2014"/> Her mother encouraged her to pursue the position, but warned her that she would need to arrive early and work harder than others.<ref name="Fernandez2014"/> In 2014, Angelou received a lifetime achievement award from the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials as part of a session billed "Women Who Move the Nation".<ref name=Brown2014/><ref name="Fernandez2014"/>

Three weeks after completing school, at the age of 17, she gave birth to her son, Clyde (who later changed his name to Guy Johnson).<ref>Angelou (1969), p. 279.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title = 35 Who Made a Difference: Maya Angelou|date = November 1, 2005|url = http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/10013086.html|last = Long|first = Richard|work = Smithsonian Magazine|access-date = December 17, 2013|archive-date = November 5, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131105212115/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/10013086.html|url-status = dead}}</ref>

==Career==
=== Adulthood and early career: 1951–1961 ===
In 1951, Angelou married Tosh Angelos, a [[Greeks|Greek]] electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother.<ref>Hagen, p. xvi.</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 29, 31.</ref>{{refn|The correct Greek spelling of Angelou's husband name is probably "Anastasios Angelopoulos".<ref>{{Cite book|title = Parting the Curtains: Interviews with Southern Writers|last = Powell|first = Dannye Romine |publisher = John F. Blair Publisher |year = 1994 |isbn = 978-0-89587-116-9 |location = Winston-Salem, North Carolina|chapter = Maya Angelou |page = 10}}</ref>|group = note}} She took modern dance classes during this time and met dancers and choreographers [[Alvin Ailey]] and Ruth Beckford. Ailey and Angelou formed a dance team, calling themselves "Al and Rita", and performed [[modern dance]] at fraternal Black organizations throughout San Francisco but never became successful.<ref name="angelou-95">Angelou (1993), p. 95.</ref> Angelou, her new husband, and her son moved to New York City so she could study [[African dance]] with Trinidadian dancer [[Pearl Primus]], but they returned to San Francisco a year later.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 36–37.</ref>
[[File:Calypso Heat Wave (1957) press photo of Maya Angelou.jpg|border|thumb|Publicity photo for ''[[Calypso Heat Wave]]'', 1957]]
After Angelou's marriage ended in 1954, she danced professionally in clubs around San Francisco, including the nightclub [[The Purple Onion]], where she sang and danced to [[calypso music]].<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 38.</ref> Up to that point, she went by the name of "Marguerite Johnson", or "Rita", but at the strong suggestion of her managers and supporters at The Purple Onion, she changed her professional name to "Maya Angelou" (her nickname and former married surname). It was a "distinctive name"<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 41.</ref> that set her apart and captured the feel of her [[Calypso music|calypso]] dance performances. During 1954 and 1955, Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera ''[[Porgy and Bess]]''. She began her practice of learning the language of every country she visited, and in a few years she gained proficiency in several languages.<ref>Hagen, pp. 91–92.</ref> In 1957, riding on the popularity of calypso, Angelou recorded her first album, ''[[Miss Calypso]]'', which was reissued as a CD in 1996.<ref name="angelou-95" /><ref name="calypso">{{cite web|url = https://www.tcm.com/this-month/article/290605|title = Calypso Heat Wave|access-date = December 18, 2013|website = Turner Classic Movies|last = Miller|first = John M.|archive-date = March 12, 2010|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20100312093330/http://www.tcm.com/thismonth/article.jsp?cid=290605|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., p. 48.</ref> She appeared in an off-Broadway review that inspired the 1957 film ''[[Calypso Heat Wave]]'', in which Angelou sang and performed her own compositions.<ref name="calypso" />{{refn|Reviewer John M. Miller calls Angelou's performance of her song "All That Happens in the Marketplace" the "most genuine musical moment in the film".<ref name="calypso" />|group = note}}{{refn|group=note|In Angelou's third book of essays, ''[[Letter to My Daughter]]'' (2009), she credits Cuban artist [[Celia Cruz]] as one of the greatest influences of her singing career, and later, credits Cruz for the effectiveness and impact of Angelou's poetry performances and readings.<ref>Angelou (2008), p. 80.</ref>}}

Angelou met novelist [[John Oliver Killens]] in 1959 and, at his urging, moved to New York to concentrate on her writing career. She joined the [[Harlem Writers Guild]], where she met several major African American authors, including [[John Henrik Clarke]], [[Rosa Guy]], [[Paule Marshall]], and [[Julian Mayfield]], and was published for the first time.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 49–51.</ref> In 1960, after meeting civil rights leader [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] and hearing him speak, she and Killens organized "the legendary"<ref name="als">{{Cite news|title = Songbird: Maya Angelou takes another look at herself|date = August 5, 2002|url = http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/08/05/020805crbo_books?currentPage=all|last = Als|first = Hilton|magazine = The New Yorker|access-date = December 18, 2013|archive-date = July 7, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140707135021/http://www.newyorker.com/archive/2002/08/05/020805crbo_books?currentPage=all|url-status = live}}</ref> ''Cabaret for Freedom'' to benefit the [[Southern Christian Leadership Conference]] (SCLC), and she was named SCLC's Northern Coordinator. According to scholar Lyman B. Hagen, her contributions to civil rights as a fundraiser and SCLC organizer were successful and "eminently effective".<ref>Hagen, p. 103.</ref> Angelou also began her pro-Castro and [[Internal resistance to apartheid|anti-apartheid]] activism during this time, joining the [[Fair Play for Cuba Committee]].<ref>{{cite book |title=We Changed the World African Americans 1945-1970 |date=1997 |publisher=Oxford University Press |pages=75}}</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., p. 57.</ref> She had joined the crowd cheering for [[Fidel Castro]] when he first entered the [[Hotel Theresa]] in [[Harlem]], New York, during the United Nations 15th General Assembly on September 19, 1960.<ref>Hall, Simon (2020), "Chapter 3: Monday September 19", ''Ten Days in Harlem'', [[Faber & Faber]] Ltd. {{ISBN|978-0-571-35309-5}}.</ref>

=== Africa to ''Caged Bird'': 1961–1969 ===
In 1961, Angelou performed in [[Jean Genet]]'s play ''[[The Blacks (play)|The Blacks]]'' (playing the part of the Queen),<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/28/maya-angelou|title=Maya Angelou obituary|first=Lyn|last=Innes|author-link=Lyn Innes|newspaper=The Guardian|date=May 28, 204|access-date=March 28, 2023|archive-date=August 7, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190807230807/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/may/28/maya-angelou|url-status=live}}</ref> along with [[Abbey Lincoln]], [[Roscoe Lee Browne]], [[James Earl Jones]], [[Louis Gossett]], [[Godfrey Cambridge]], and [[Cicely Tyson]].<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 64.</ref> Also in 1961, she met South African freedom fighter [[Vusumzi Make]]; they never officially married.<ref name="G59">Gillespie et al., p. 59.</ref> She and her son Guy moved with Make to [[Cairo]], where Angelou worked as an associate editor at the weekly English-language newspaper ''The [[Arab Observer]]''.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 65.</ref><ref>Gillespie et al., p. 71.</ref> In 1962, her relationship with Make ended, and she and Guy moved to [[Accra, Ghana]], so he could attend college, but he was seriously injured in an automobile accident.{{refn|Guy Johnson, who as a result of this accident in Accra and one in the late 1960s, underwent a series of spinal surgeries. He, like his mother, became a writer and poet.<ref>Gillespie, p. 156.</ref>|group = note}} Angelou remained in Accra for his recovery and ended up staying there until 1965. She became an administrator at the [[University of Ghana]] and was active in the African American expatriate community.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 74, 75.</ref> She was a feature editor for ''The African Review'',<ref>Braxton, p. 3.</ref> a freelance writer for the ''[[Ghanaian Times]]'', wrote and broadcast for Radio Ghana, and worked and performed for Ghana's National Theatre. She performed in a revival of ''The Blacks'' in Geneva and Berlin.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 79–80.</ref>[[File:Portrait photograph of Maya Angelou by Henry Monroe from the 1969 first-edition dust jacket of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.png|thumb|upright|Portrait from the first edition of ''[[I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings]]'' (1969)|left]]In Accra, she became close friends with [[Malcolm X]] during his visit in the early 1960s.{{refn|Angelou called her friendship with Malcolm X "a brother/sister relationship".<ref>{{cite web|title=Maya Angelou Biography and Interview|website=achievement.org|publisher=[[American Academy of Achievement]]|url=https://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou/#biography|access-date=April 8, 2019|archive-date=January 2, 2019|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190102112152/http://www.achievement.org/achiever/maya-angelou#biography|url-status=live}}</ref>|group = note}} Angelou returned to the U.S. in 1965 to help him build a new civil rights organization, the [[Organization of Afro-American Unity]]; he was assassinated shortly afterward. Devastated and adrift, she joined her brother in Hawaii, where she resumed her singing career. She moved back to Los Angeles to focus on her writing career. Working as a market researcher in [[Watts, Los Angeles|Watts]], Angelou witnessed the [[Watts riots|riots]] in the summer of 1965. She acted in and wrote plays and returned to New York in 1967. She met her lifelong friend [[Rosa Guy]] and renewed her friendship with [[James Baldwin]], whom she had met in Paris in the 1950s and called "my brother", during this time.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Maya Angelou Remembers James Baldwin|date =August 5, 2010|last = Boyd|first = Herb|author-link=Herb Boyd|journal = New York Amsterdam News|issue = 32|page = 17|volume = 100}}</ref> Her friend Jerry Purcell provided Angelou with a stipend to support her writing.<ref>Gillespie et al., pp. 85–96.</ref>

In 1968, [[Martin Luther King Jr.]] asked Angelou to organize a march. She agreed, but postponed again,<ref name="als" /> and in what Gillespie calls "a macabre twist of fate",<ref name="gillespie-98">Gillespie et al., p. 98.</ref> he was assassinated on her 40th birthday (April 4).{{refn|group=note|Angelou did not celebrate her birthday for many years, choosing instead to send flowers to King's widow [[Coretta Scott King]].<ref name="80years" />}} Devastated again, she was encouraged out of her depression by her friend James Baldwin. As Gillespie states, "If 1968 was a year of great pain, loss, and sadness, it was also the year when America first witnessed the breadth and depth of Maya Angelou's spirit and creative genius".<ref name="gillespie-98" /> Despite having almost no experience, she wrote, produced, and narrated ''Blacks, Blues, Black!'',<ref>All 10 episodes of ''Blacks, Blues, Black!'' can be [https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/10287 viewed online] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150123161704/https://diva.sfsu.edu/collections/sfbatv/10287 |date=January 23, 2015 }} Bay Area Television Archive, ''diva.sfsu.edu''. Retrieved December 23, 2019</ref> a ten-part series of documentaries about the connection between [[blues]] music and Black Americans' African heritage, and what Angelou called the "Africanisms still current in the U.S."<ref>{{Cite magazine |title = Why I Moved Back to the South|date = February 1982|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=deYZsW0DlSIC&q=Ebony+%22Why+I+Moved+Back+to+the+South%22%22&pg=PA130|last = Angelou|first = Maya|magazine = Ebony|access-date =December 19, 2013|issue = 37}}</ref> for [[National Educational Television]], the precursor of [[PBS]]. Also in 1968, inspired at a dinner party she attended with Baldwin, cartoonist [[Jules Feiffer]], and his wife Judy, and challenged by [[Random House]] editor [[Robert Loomis]], she wrote her first autobiography, ''[[I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings]]'', published in 1969. This brought her international recognition and acclaim.<ref>{{Cite news|title = A Career in Letters, 50 Years and Counting|date = January 23, 2007|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/books/23loom.html|last = Smith|first = Dinitia|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date = December 19, 2013|archive-date = March 8, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190308143951/https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/23/books/23loom.html|url-status = live}}</ref>

=== Later career ===
Released in 1972, Angelou's ''[[Georgia, Georgia]]'', produced by a Swedish film company and filmed in Sweden, was the first produced screenplay by a Black woman.<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Maya Angelou: The Phenomenal Woman Rises Again|date=January 4, 1997|last = Brown|first = Avonie|journal = New York Amsterdam News|issue = 88|page = 2}}</ref> She also wrote the film's soundtrack, despite having very little additional input in the filming of the movie.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 105.</ref>{{refn|See ''Mom & Me & Mom'', pp. 168–178, for a description of Angelou's experience in Stockholm.|group = note}} Angelou married [[Paul du Feu]], a [[Welsh people|Welsh]] carpenter and ex-husband of writer [[Germaine Greer]], in San Francisco in 1973.{{refn|Angelou described their marriage, which she called "made in heaven",<ref>Angelou, Maya (1997). ''Even the Stars Look Lonesome''. New York: Random House. p. 1. {{ISBN|978-0-553-37972-3}}.</ref> in her second book of essays ''[[Even the Stars Look Lonesome]]'' (1997).|group = note}} Over the next ten years, as Gillespie has stated, "She [Angelou] had accomplished more than many artists hope to achieve in a lifetime."<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 119.</ref> Angelou worked as a composer, writing for singer [[Roberta Flack]],{{refn|Angelou co-wrote "And So It Goes" on Flack's 1988 album ''[[Oasis (Roberta Flack album)|Oasis]]''.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Feeney|first=Nolan|title=Roberta Flack Remembers Maya Angelou: 'We All Have Been Inspired'|url=https://time.com/132808/roberta-flack-maya-angelou/|access-date=November 15, 2014|magazine=Time|date=May 28, 2014|archive-date=October 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141005041739/http://time.com/132808/roberta-flack-maya-angelou/|url-status=live}}</ref>|group = note}} and composing movie scores. She wrote articles, short stories, TV scripts, documentaries, autobiographies, and poetry. She produced plays and was named a visiting professor at several colleges and universities. She was "a reluctant actor",<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 110.</ref> and was nominated for a [[Tony Award]] in 1973 for her role in [[Jerome Kilty]]'s play ''Look Away''.<ref name="moore" /> As a theater director, in 1988 she undertook a revival of [[Errol John]]'s play ''[[Moon on a Rainbow Shawl]]'' at the [[Almeida Theatre]] in London.<ref>{{cite news|last=Wolf|first=Matt|title=The National Theatre's Global Flair|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/arts/21iht-lon21.html|access-date=September 2, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|date=March 20, 2012|archive-date=March 28, 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120328091048/http://www.nytimes.com/2012/03/21/arts/21iht-lon21.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite encyclopedia|title=The Northeastern Dictionary of Women's Biography|edition=Third|first=Jennifer S.|last=Uglow|author-link=Jennifer Uglow|chapter=Angelou, Maya|page=19|publisher=Northeastern University Press|location=Boston|date=1999|isbn=9781555534219}}</ref>

[[File:Portrait photograph of Maya Angelou by Marlene Callahan Wallace from the 1978 first-edition dust jacket of And Still I Rise.jpg|thumb|upright|Portrait from the first edition of ''[[And Still I Rise]]'' (1978)]]
In 1977, Angelou appeared in a supporting role in the television mini-series ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]''. She was given a multitude of [[List of awards and nominations received by Maya Angelou|awards]] during this period, including more than thirty honorary degrees from colleges and universities from all over the world.<ref name="moore">{{Cite news|title = Growing Up Maya Angelou|date = April 2003|url = https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/growing-up-maya-angelou-79582387/|last = Moore|first = Lucinda|work = Smithsonian Magazine|access-date = December 19, 2013|archive-date = March 2, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140302071051/http://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/growing-up-maya-angelou-79582387/|url-status = live}}</ref> In the late 1970s, Angelou met [[Oprah Winfrey]] when Winfrey was a [[news presenter|TV anchor]] in Baltimore, Maryland; Angelou would later become Winfrey's close friend and mentor.<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Oprah Talks to Maya Angelou|date = December 2000|url = http://www.oprah.com/omagazine/Oprah-Interviews-Maya-Angelou|last = Winfrey|first = Oprah|magazine = O Magazine|access-date = December 19, 2013|archive-date = April 13, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090413210625/http://www.oprah.com/article/omagazine/oprahscut/omag_200012_maya|url-status = live}}</ref>{{refn|Angelou dedicated her 1993 book of essays ''[[Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now]]'' to Winfrey.<ref>Angelou (1993), p. x.</ref>|group = note}} In 1981, Angelou and du Feu divorced.

She returned to the southern United States in 1981 because she felt she had to come to terms with her past there and, despite having no bachelor's degree, accepted the lifetime Reynolds Professorship of [[American Studies]] at [[Wake Forest University]] in [[Winston-Salem, North Carolina]], where she was one of a few full-time African American professors.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title = Dr. Maya Angelou|date = December 2009|last = Glover|first = Terry|magazine = Ebony|issue = 65|page = 67}}</ref><ref name="hewlett">{{Cite news|url = http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/maya-angelou-dead-at-age/article_8da80e80-e66a-11e3-bc4c-001a4bcf6878.html|title = Maya Angelou, famed poet, writer, activist, dead at 86|last = Hewlett|first = Michael|date = May 28, 2014|work = The Winston-Salem Journal|access-date = November 16, 2014|archive-date = August 2, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140802050300/http://www.journalnow.com/news/local/maya-angelou-dead-at-age/article_8da80e80-e66a-11e3-bc4c-001a4bcf6878.html|url-status = live}}</ref> From that point on, she considered herself "a teacher who writes".<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/282075-1|title = Book Discussion on Letter to My Daughter|date = October 1, 2008|access-date = December 13, 2013|work = The New York Times|last = Cohen|first = Patricia (host)|type = Documentary|archive-date = December 14, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131214001106/http://www.c-spanvideo.org/program/282075-1|url-status = live}}</ref> Angelou taught a variety of subjects that reflected her interests, including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and writing.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 126.</ref> ''[[The Winston-Salem Journal]] ''reported that even though she made many friends on campus, "she never quite lived down all of the criticism from people who thought she was more of a celebrity than an intellect&nbsp;... [and] an overpaid figurehead".<ref name="hewlett" /> The last course she taught at Wake Forest was in 2011, but she was planning to teach another course in late 2014. Her final speaking engagement at the university was in late 2013.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://news.wfu.edu/2014/06/02/remembering-dr-maya-angelou/|title = Remembering Dr. Maya Angelou|date = June 2, 2014|access-date = June 2, 2014|website = News Center|publisher = Wake Forest University|last = McGrath|first = Kim|archive-date = June 5, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140605193934/http://news.wfu.edu/2014/06/02/remembering-dr-maya-angelou/|url-status = live}}</ref> Beginning in the 1990s, Angelou actively participated in the lecture circuit<ref name="wordsmith" /> in a customized tour bus, something she continued into her eighties.<ref name="younge1">{{Cite news|title = No surrender|date = May 24, 2002|url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/25/biography.mayaangelou|last = Younge|first = Gary|work = The Guardian|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = November 6, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131106005833/http://www.theguardian.com/books/2002/may/25/biography.mayaangelou|url-status = live}}</ref><ref name="gillespie-9">Gillespie et al., p. 9.</ref> She also taught at the [[University of California]], the [[University of Kansas]], and the University of Ghana and was recognized as a Rockefeller Foundation Scholar and a [[Yale University]] Fellow.{{Sfn|Braxton|1999|p=3}}

In 1993, Angelou recited her poem "[[On the Pulse of Morning]]" at the presidential inauguration of [[Bill Clinton]], becoming the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since [[Robert Frost]] at [[John F. Kennedy]]'s inauguration in 1961.<ref name="wordsmith">{{Cite news|title = An Afternoon with Maya Angelou; A Wordsmith at Her Inaugural Anvil|date = January 20, 1993|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/20/style/an-afternoon-with-maya-angelou-a-wordsmith-at-her-inaugural-anvil.html|last = Manegold|first = Catherine S.|work = The New York Times|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = April 24, 2008|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20080424070708/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CE5D81E30F933A15752C0A965958260&n=Top/Reference/Times|url-status = live}}</ref> Her recitation resulted in more fame and recognition for her previous works, and broadened her appeal "across racial, economic, and educational boundaries".<ref>{{Cite magazine|title = Everybody's All American|date = February 26, 1993|url = https://ew.com/article/1993/02/26/media-star-maya-angelou/|last = Berkman|first = Meredith|magazine = Entertainment Weekly|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = September 15, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112915/https://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,305716,00.html|url-status = live}}</ref> The recording of the poem won a [[Grammy Award]].<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 142.</ref> In June 1995, she delivered what [[Richard A. Long|Richard Long]] called her "second 'public' poem",<ref>Long, p. 84.</ref> entitled "[[A Brave and Startling Truth]]", which commemorated the 50th anniversary of the United Nations.

[[File:Maya Angelou speech for Barack Obama campaign 2008.jpg|thumb|left|275px|Angelou speaking at a rally for [[Barack Obama]], 2008]]

Angelou achieved her goal of directing a feature film in 1996, ''[[Down in the Delta]]'', which featured actors such as [[Alfre Woodard]] and [[Wesley Snipes]].<ref name="gillespie-144">Gillespie et al., p. 144.</ref> Also in 1996, she collaborated with [[rhythm and blues|R&B]] artists [[Ashford & Simpson]] on seven of the eleven tracks of their album ''Been Found''. The album was responsible for three of Angelou's only [[Billboard charts|''Billboard'' chart]] appearances.<ref name="billboard">{{Cite magazine|url = http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6099398/maya-angelou-music-history-ashford-simpson-calypso-album-listen|title = Maya Angelou's Life in Music: Ashford & Simpson Collab, Calypso Album & More|last = Letkemann|first = Jessica|date = May 28, 2014|magazine = Billboard|access-date = November 16, 2014|archive-date = September 13, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140913190342/http://www.billboard.com/articles/news/6099398/maya-angelou-music-history-ashford-simpson-calypso-album-listen|url-status = live}}</ref> In 2000, she created a successful collection of products for [[Hallmark Cards|Hallmark]], including [[greeting cards]] and decorative household items.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 10.</ref><ref>{{Cite news|title = Maya Angelou pens her sentiments for Hallmark|date = January 10, 2002|url = http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/2002/2002-01-10-maya-angelou-full.htm|last = Williams|first = Jeannie|work = USA Today|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = December 20, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220044611/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/2002/2002-01-10-maya-angelou-full.htm|url-status = live}}</ref> She responded to critics who charged her with being too commercial by stating that "the enterprise was perfectly in keeping with her role as 'the people's poet{{'"}}.<ref name="wsjobit" /> More than thirty years after Angelou began writing her life story, she completed her sixth autobiography ''[[A Song Flung Up to Heaven]]'', in 2002.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 175.</ref>

Angelou campaigned for the [[Democratic Party (United States)|Democratic Party]] [[Democratic Party (United States) presidential primaries, 2008|in the 2008 presidential primaries]], giving her public support to [[Hillary Clinton]].<ref name="80years">{{Cite news|url= http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-03-26-maya-angelou_N.htm|title= Maya Angelou celebrates her 80 years of pain and joy|last= Minzesheimer|first= Bob|date= March 26, 2008|work= USA Today|access-date= November 22, 2014|archive-date= September 15, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112645/http://usatoday30.usatoday.com/life/books/news/2008-03-26-maya-angelou_N.htm|url-status= live}}</ref> In the run-up to the [[South Carolina Democratic primary, 2008|January Democratic primary in South Carolina]], the Clinton campaign ran ads featuring Angelou's endorsement.<ref name="clinton">{{cite news |last=Mooney |first=Alexander |title=Clinton camp answers Oprah with Angelou |publisher=CNN Politics.com |url=http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/10/clinton-camp-answers-oprah-with-angelou/ |date=December 10, 2008 |access-date=April 4, 2009 |archive-date=April 4, 2018 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180404134938/http://politicalticker.blogs.cnn.com/2007/12/10/clinton-camp-answers-oprah-with-angelou/ |url-status=dead }}</ref> The ads were part of the campaign's efforts to rally support in the Black community;<ref name="campaign">{{cite news |last = Williams |first = Krissah |title = Presidential candidates court S.C. black newspaper |newspaper = [[The Washington Post]] |date = January 18, 2008 |url = http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/01/18/presidential_candidates_court_1.html |access-date = April 4, 2009 |archive-date = February 26, 2013 |archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20130226201048/http://voices.washingtonpost.com/44/2008/01/18/presidential_candidates_court_1.html |url-status = dead }}</ref> but [[Barack Obama]] won the South Carolina primary, finishing 29 points ahead of Clinton and taking 80% of the Black vote.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27carolina.html|title=Obama Carries South Carolina by Wide Margin|last=Zeleny|first=Jeff|author2=Marjorie Connelly|date=January 27, 2008|newspaper=The New York Times|access-date=April 4, 2009|archive-date=April 1, 2009|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090401222506/http://www.nytimes.com/2008/01/27/us/politics/27carolina.html|url-status=live}}</ref> When Clinton's campaign ended, Angelou put her support behind Obama,<ref name="80years" /> who went on to win [[2008 United States presidential election|the presidential election]] and become the first African American president of the United States. After Obama's inauguration, she stated, "We are growing up beyond the idiocies of racism and sexism."<ref>{{Cite news|title = From King's 'I Have a Dream' to Obama Inauguration|date = January 19, 2009|url = https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/story?id=6665595|last = Parker|first = Jennifer|work = ABC News|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = September 16, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180916202242/https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/Inauguration/story?id=6665595|url-status = live}}</ref>

[[File:Hillary Clinton and Maya Angelou (2423852927).jpg|thumb|Angelou and [[Hillary Clinton]] at an event in North Carolina in 2008]]

In late 2010, Angelou donated her personal papers and career memorabilia to the [[Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture]] in [[Harlem]].<ref>{{Cite news|title = Maya Angelou Donates Private Collection to Schomburg Center in Harlem|date = November 11, 2010|url = http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/publication/?i=51395&p=14|last = Waldron|first = Clarence|work = Jet Magazine|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = September 15, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112627/http://trendmag2.trendoffset.com/publication/?i=51395&p=14|url-status = live}}</ref> They consisted of more than 340 boxes of documents that featured her handwritten notes on yellow legal pads for ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'', a 1982 telegram from [[Coretta Scott King]], fan mail, and personal and professional correspondence from colleagues such as her editor Robert Loomis.<ref>{{Cite news|title= Schomburg Center in Harlem Acquires Maya Angelou Archive|date= October 26, 2010|url= https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/arts/design/27archive.html|last= Lee|first= Felicia R.|work= The New York Times|access-date= December 20, 2013|archive-date= July 10, 2018|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20180710132833/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/27/arts/design/27archive.html|url-status= live}}</ref> In 2011, Angelou served as a consultant for the [[Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial]] in Washington, D.C. She spoke out in opposition to a paraphrase of a quotation by King that appeared on the memorial, saying, "The quote makes Dr. Martin Luther King look like an arrogant twit",<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maya-angelou-says-king-memorial-inscription-makes-him-look-arrogant/2011/08/30/gIQAlYChqJ_story.html|title = Maya Angelou says King memorial inscription makes him look 'arrogant'|last1 = Weingarten|first1 = Gene|date = August 30, 2011|newspaper = The Washington Post|access-date = November 17, 2014|last2 = Ruane|first2 = Michael E.|archive-date = January 25, 2023|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20230125042259/https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/maya-angelou-says-king-memorial-inscription-makes-him-look-arrogant/2011/08/30/gIQAlYChqJ_story.html|url-status = live}}</ref> and demanded that it be changed. Eventually, the paraphrase was removed.<ref>{{Cite news|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/controversial-king-memorial-inscription-set-to-be-erased-not-replaced/2012/12/11/41f2f8b6-43cc-11e2-8e70-e1993528222d_story.html|title = Controversial King memorial inscription to be removed, not replaced|last = Ruane|first = Michael E.|date = December 11, 2011|newspaper = The Washington Post|access-date = November 17, 2014|archive-date = October 13, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20141013113935/http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/controversial-king-memorial-inscription-set-to-be-erased-not-replaced/2012/12/11/41f2f8b6-43cc-11e2-8e70-e1993528222d_story.html|url-status = live}}</ref>

In 2013, at the age of 85, Angelou published the seventh volume of autobiography in her series, entitled ''Mom & Me & Mom'', which focuses on her relationship with her mother.<ref>{{Cite news|title='Mom & Me & Mom,' by Maya Angelou|date=March 27, 2013|url=https://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-27/entertainment/38068625_1_angelou-vivian-baxter-new-book|last=Sayers|first=Valerie|newspaper=The Washington Post|access-date=December 20, 2013|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130911041900/http://articles.washingtonpost.com/2013-03-27/entertainment/38068625_1_angelou-vivian-baxter-new-book|archive-date=September 11, 2013}}</ref>

==Personal life==
{{quote box
| align = right
| width = 25em
| quote =
  {{quote box
  | style = margin: 0; border: 0; padding: 0;
  | quote = I make writing as much a part of my life as I do eating or listening to music.
  | salign = right
  | source = Maya Angelou, 1999<ref>Tate, p. 150.</ref>
  }}
  {{quote box
  | style = margin: 0; border: 0; padding: 0;
  | quote = I also wear a hat or a very tightly pulled head tie when I write. I suppose I hope by doing that I will keep my brains from seeping out of my scalp and running in great gray blobs down my neck, into my ears, and over my face.
  | salign = right
  | source = Maya Angelou, 1984<ref>{{cite book |last = Angelou |first = Maya |chapter = Shades and Slashes of Light |editor1-last = Evans |editor1-first = Mari |title = Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation |publisher = Doubleday |year = 1984 |location = Garden City, New York |page = [https://archive.org/details/blackwomenwriter00evan/page/5 5] |isbn = 978-0-385-17124-3 |chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/blackwomenwriter00evan/page/5 }}</ref>
  }}
  {{quote box
  | style = margin: 0; border: 0; padding: 0;
  | quote = Nothing so frightens me as writing, but nothing so satisfies me. It's like a swimmer in the [English] Channel: you face the stingrays and waves and cold and grease, and finally you reach the other shore, and you put your foot on the ground—Aaaahhhh!
  | salign = right
  | source = Maya Angelou, 1989<ref>Toppman, p. 145.</ref>
  }}
}}

Evidence suggests that Angelou was partially descended from the [[Mende people]] of West Africa through her [[Mitochondrial DNA|maternal line]].<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/|title = African American Lives 2: The Past is Another Country (Part 4)|year = 2008|access-date = December 20, 2013|publisher = PBS|last = Gates Jr.|first = Henry L. |author-link=Henry Louis Gates Jr.|archive-date = December 20, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220214934/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/|url-status = dead}}</ref>{{refn|In her fifth autobiography ''[[All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes]]'' (1987), Angelou recounts being identified, on the basis of her appearance, as part of the [[Bambara people]], a subset of the Mande.<ref>Angelou, Maya (1986). ''All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes''. New York: Vintage Books. pp. 206–207. {{ISBN|978-0-679-73404-8}}.</ref>|group = note}} In 2008, a DNA test revealed that 45 percent of her genetic makeup was from [[Central Africa|Central African]] peoples from [[Congo Basin|Congo]]-[[Angola]] region and 55 percent came from [[West Africa|West Africans]].<ref>{{cite book|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=0cralRa6tlYC&q=maya+angelou+congo+angola&pg=PA37|title = In Search of Our Roots: How 19 Extraordinary African Americans Reclaimed Their Past|year = 2009|last = Gates|first = Henry L. Jr.| publisher=Crown |isbn = 9780307409737}}</ref> A 2008 [[PBS]] documentary found that Angelou's maternal great-grandmother, Mary Lee, who had been emancipated after the [[American Civil War|Civil War]], became pregnant by her white former owner, John Savin. Savin forced Lee to sign a false statement accusing another man of being the father of her child. After Savin was indicted for forcing Lee to commit perjury, and despite the discovery that Savin was the father, a jury found him not guilty. Lee was sent to the Clinton County [[poorhouse]] in Missouri with her daughter, Marguerite Baxter, who became Angelou's grandmother. Angelou described Lee as "that poor little black girl, physically and mentally bruised."<ref>{{cite web|url = https://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/|title = African American Lives 2: A Way out of No Way (Part 2)|year = 2008|access-date = December 20, 2013|publisher = PBS|last = Gates Jr.|first = Henry L. (host)|archive-date = December 20, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131220214934/http://www.pbs.org/wnet/aalives/|url-status = dead}}</ref>

The details of Angelou's life described in her seven autobiographies and in numerous interviews, speeches, and articles tended to be inconsistent. Critic Mary Jane Lupton has explained that when Angelou spoke about her life, she did so eloquently, but informally, and "with no time chart in front of her."<ref>Lupton, p. 2.</ref> For example, she was married at least twice, but never clarified the number of times she had been married, "for fear of sounding frivolous."<ref name="younge1" /> According to her autobiographies and to Gillespie, she married Tosh Angelos in 1951,<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 37.</ref> and [[Paul du Feu]] in 1973 or 1974,<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 106.</ref> and began her relationship with Vusumzi Make in 1961, but never formally married him.<ref name="G59"/>  Angelou held many jobs, including some in the [[sex trade]] working as a prostitute and [[Procuring (prostitution)|madam]] for lesbians, and describes so in her second autobiography, ''[[Gather Together in My Name]]''. In a 1995 interview, Angelou said:

{{Blockquote|I wrote about my experiences because I thought too many people tell young folks, "I never did anything wrong. Who, Moi? – never I. I have no skeletons in my closet. In fact, I have no closet." They lie like that and then young people find themselves in situations and they think, "Damn I must be a pretty bad guy. My mom or dad never did anything wrong." They can't forgive themselves and go on with their lives.<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Wolf|first=Linda|date=Winter 1995|title=Laugh and Dare to Love|url=http://www.context.org/iclib/ic43/angelou/|magazine=In Context Magazine|volume=43|pages=45|access-date=April 4, 2017|archive-date=April 5, 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170405073632/http://www.context.org/iclib/ic43/angelou/|url-status=live}}</ref>}}

Angelou had one son, Guy, whose birth she described in her first autobiography; one grandson, two great-grandchildren,<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 156.</ref> and, according to Gillespie, a large group of friends and extended family.{{refn|group=note|See Gillespie et al., pp. 153–175.}} Angelou's mother Vivian Baxter died in 1991 and her brother Bailey Johnson Jr. died in 2000 after a series of strokes; both were important figures in her life and her books.<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 155.</ref>{{refn|Angelou describes her brother's addiction to heroin in ''Mom & Me & Mom'', pp. 189–194.|group = note}} In 1981, the mother of her grandson disappeared with him; finding him took four years.<ref>{{cite news|last1=Beyette|first1=Beverly|title=Angelou's 4-Year Search for Grandson: Kidnapping Spurs Emotional Odyssey|url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-1986-06-12-vw-10461-story.html|access-date=November 19, 2014|work=Los Angeles Times|date=June 12, 1986|archive-date=October 24, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141024190119/http://articles.latimes.com/1986-06-12/news/vw-10461_1_maya-angelou|url-status=live}}</ref>{{refn|In Angelou's essay, "My Grandson, Home at Last", published in ''[[Woman's Day]]'' in 1986, she describes the kidnapping and her response to it.<ref>Lupton, p. 19.</ref>|group = note}}

Angelou did not earn a university degree, but according to Gillespie it was Angelou's preference to be called "Dr. Angelou" by people outside of her family and close friends. She owned two homes in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, and a "lordly brownstone"<ref name="younge2" /> in [[Harlem]], which was purchased in 2004<ref name="newyorkcity">{{Cite news|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/nyregion/maya-angelou-often-left-new-york-but-she-always-came-back.html|title = Maya Angelou Often Left New York, but She Always Came Back|last = Yee|first = Vivian|date = May 29, 2014|work = The New York Times|access-date = November 18, 2014|page = A23|archive-date = July 3, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140703065128/http://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/30/nyregion/maya-angelou-often-left-new-york-but-she-always-came-back.html|url-status = live}}</ref> and was full of her "growing library"<ref>Gillespie et al., p. 150.</ref> of books she collected throughout her life, artwork collected over the span of many decades, and well-stocked kitchens. ''[[The Guardian]]'' writer [[Gary Younge]] reported that in Angelou's Harlem home were several African wall hangings and her collection of paintings, including ones of several jazz trumpeters, a watercolor of [[Rosa Parks]], and a [[Faith Ringgold]] work entitled "Maya's Quilt Of Life".<ref name="younge2" />

According to Gillespie, she hosted several celebrations per year at her main residence in Winston-Salem; "her skill in the kitchen is the stuff of legend—from [[haute cuisine]] to down-home comfort food".<ref name="gillespie-9" /> ''The Winston-Salem Journal'' stated: "Securing an invitation to one of Angelou's [[Thanksgiving (United States)|Thanksgiving]] dinners, [[Christmas tree]] decorating parties or birthday parties was among the most coveted invitations in town."<ref name="hewlett" /> ''[[The New York Times]]'', describing Angelou's residence history in New York City, stated that she regularly hosted elaborate New Year's Day parties.<ref name="newyorkcity" /> She combined her cooking and writing skills in her 2004 book ''[[Hallelujah! The Welcome Table]]'', which featured 73 recipes, many of which she learned from her grandmother and mother, accompanied by 28 vignettes.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Welcome to her world: Poet-author Maya Angelou blends recipes and memories in winning style|date = January 5, 2005|url = https://www.chicagotribune.com/2005/01/05/welcome-to-her-world/|last = Pierce|first = Donna|work = Chicago Tribune|access-date = November 24, 2013|archive-date = December 2, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131202235404/http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2005-01-05/entertainment/0501040395_1_angelou-potato-salad-delicious-dessert|url-status = live}}</ref> She followed up in 2010 with her second cookbook, ''[[Great Food, All Day Long]]: Cook Splendidly, Eat Smart'', which focused on weight loss and portion control.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Maya Angelou's cookbook 'Great Food, All Day Long' exudes cozy, decadence|date = January 18, 2011|url = http://www.cleveland.com/taste/index.ssf/2011/01/maya_angelous_cookbook_great_f.html|last = Crea|first = Joe|work = Northeast Ohio Media Group|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = December 13, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131213021334/http://www.cleveland.com/taste/index.ssf/2011/01/maya_angelous_cookbook_great_f.html|url-status = live}}</ref>

Beginning with ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'', Angelou used the same "writing ritual"<ref name="lupton-15" /> for many years. She would wake early in the morning and check into a hotel room, where the staff was instructed to remove any pictures from the walls. She would write on legal pads while lying on the bed, with only a bottle of sherry, a deck of cards to play [[Solitaire (game)|solitaire]], ''[[Roget's Thesaurus]]'', and the Bible, and would leave by the early afternoon. She would average 10–12 pages of written material a day, which she edited down to three or four pages in the evening.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Conversations with Maya Angelou|last = Sarler|first = Carol|publisher = University Press|year = 1989|isbn = 978-0-87805-362-9|editor-last = Elliot|editor-first = Jeffrey M|location = Jackson, Mississippi|chapter = A Day in the Life of Maya Angelou|page = [https://archive.org/details/conversationswit00ange/page/217 217]|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/conversationswit00ange/page/217}}</ref>{{refn|In ''Letter to My Daughter'' (2009), Angelou's third book of essays, she related the first time she used legal pads to write.<ref>Angelou (2008), pp. 63–67.</ref>|group = note}}<ref>{{Cite magazine|last=Newport|first=Cal|title=What if Remote Work Didn't Mean Working from Home?|url=https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/remote-work-not-from-home|access-date=May 29, 2021|magazine=The New Yorker|date=May 20, 2021|language=en-US|archive-date=May 28, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210528002844/https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cultural-comment/remote-work-not-from-home|url-status=live}}</ref> She went through this process to "enchant" herself, and as she said in a 1989 interview with the [[British Broadcasting Corporation]], "relive the agony, the anguish, the ''[[Sturm und Drang]]''".<ref name="bbcinterview">{{cite web|url = http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml|title = Maya Angelou ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings''|date = October 2005|access-date = December 20, 2013|work = World Book Club|publisher = BBC World Service|type = interview|archive-date = June 3, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170603122300/http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/specials/133_wbc_archive_new/page2.shtml|url-status = live}}</ref> She placed herself back in the time she wrote about, even traumatic experiences such as her rape in ''Caged Bird'', to "tell the human truth"<ref name="bbcinterview" /> about her life. She was quoted as saying: "The way I deal with any pain is to admit it – let it come."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/maya-angelou-dies-appreciation-by-her-friend-margaret-busby-9449246.html|title=Maya Angelou dies: Appreciation by her friend Margaret Busby|first=Margaret|last=Busby|author-link=Margaret Busby|newspaper=[[The Independent]]|date=29 May 2014}}</ref> Angelou stated that she played cards to get to that place of enchantment and to access her memories more effectively. She said, "It may take an hour to get into it, but once I'm in it—ha! It's so delicious!"<ref name="bbcinterview" /> She did not find the process cathartic; rather, she found relief in "telling the truth".<ref name="bbcinterview" />

In 2009, the gossip website [[TMZ]] erroneously reported that Angelou had been hospitalized in Los Angeles when she was alive and well in St. Louis, which resulted in rumors of her death and, according to Angelou, concern among her friends and family worldwide.<ref name="younge2">{{Cite news|title = Maya Angelou: 'I'm fine as wine in the summertime'|date = November 13, 2013|url = https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/14/maya-angelou-interview|last = Younge|first = Gary|work = The Guardian|access-date = December 13, 2013|location = London|archive-date = November 3, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20191103032740/https://www.theguardian.com/books/2009/nov/14/maya-angelou-interview|url-status = live}}</ref>

==Death==
Angelou died on the morning of May 28, 2014, at age 86.<ref>{{cite web|title=Dr. Maya Angelou dead at 86|url=http://www.wxii12.com/news/dr-maya-angelou-dead-at-86/26204272|publisher=WXII12.com|access-date=May 28, 2014|location=Winston-Salem, North Carolina|date=May 28, 2014|archive-date=September 15, 2018|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112627/https://www.wxii12.com/news/dr-maya-angelou-dead-at-86/26204272|url-status=live}}</ref> Although Angelou had 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.<ref name="hewlett" /><ref name="wsjobit">{{Cite news|title = Author, Poet Maya Angelou Dies|last = Alter|first = Alexander|date =May 28, 2014|work = The Wall Street Journal}}</ref> During her memorial service at Wake Forest University, her son Guy Johnson stated that despite being in constant pain due to her dancing career and respiratory failure, she wrote four books during the last ten years of her life. He said, "She left this mortal plane with no loss of acuity and no loss in comprehension."<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.wxii12.com/news/full-remarks-angelous-son-guy-johnson/26380840|title = Full Remarks: Angelou's son, Guy Johnson|last = Johnson|first = Guy|date = June 7, 2014|work = WXII12.com|access-date = June 16, 2014|archive-date = June 11, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140611234404/http://www.wxii12.com/news/full-remarks-angelous-son-guy-johnson/26380840|url-status = live}}</ref>

[[Tribute]]s to Angelou and condolences were paid by artists, entertainers, and world leaders, including President Obama, whose sister was named after Angelou, and Bill Clinton.<ref name="wsjobit" /><ref name="BBCtributes">{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606776|title=Maya Angelou 'the brightest light' says Barack Obama|date=May 28, 2014|access-date=May 28, 2014|work=BBC News|archive-date=May 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140529064555/http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-27606776|url-status=live}}</ref> [[Harold Augenbraum]], from the [[National Book Foundation]], said that Angelou's "legacy is one that all writers and readers across the world can admire and aspire to."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-angelou-idUSKBN0E81E520140528|title=U.S. author, poet Maya Angelou dies at 86|date=May 28, 2014|access-date=May 28, 2014|work=Reuters|last1=Jenkins|first1=Colleen|last2=Trott|first2=Bill|archive-date=August 12, 2016|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160812224119/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-people-angelou-idUSKBN0E81E520140528|url-status=live}}</ref> The week after Angelou's death, ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' rose to number 1 on [[Amazon.com]]'s bestseller list.<ref name="wsjobit" />

On May 29, 2014, Mount Zion Baptist Church in Winston-Salem, of which Angelou was a member for 30 years, held a public memorial service to honor her.<ref name="WBTV">{{cite web|last=WBTV Web Staff|title=Dr Maya Angelou remembered at public memorial service|url=http://www.wdam.com/story/25647600/dr-maya-angelou-remembered-at-public-memorial-service|publisher=Worldnow and WDAM TV|access-date=May 30, 2014|location=Winston-Salem, North Carolina|date=May 29, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140531124016/http://www.wdam.com/story/25647600/dr-maya-angelou-remembered-at-public-memorial-service|archive-date=May 31, 2014|url-status=dead}}</ref> On June 7, a private memorial service was held at [[Wait Chapel]] on the campus of Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem. The memorial was shown live on local stations in the Winston-Salem/Triad area and streamed live on the university web site with speeches from her son, Oprah Winfrey, [[Michelle Obama]], and Bill Clinton.<ref name="service">{{cite news|agency=Associated Press|title=Poet Maya Angelou remembered at memorial service|url=http://www.news-record.com/news/article_d143738e-ee65-11e3-a41d-001a4bcf6878.html|work=[[News & Record]]|access-date=June 8, 2014|date=June 7, 2014}}</ref><ref name="stream">{{cite news|last=Tobar|first=Hector|title=Maya Angelou's memorial service to be live-streamed|url=http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-maya-angelous-memorial-service-to-be-livestreamed-20140604-story.html|work=[[Los Angeles Times]]|access-date=June 11, 2014|date=June 4, 2014|archive-date=June 10, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140610233502/http://www.latimes.com/books/jacketcopy/la-et-jc-maya-angelous-memorial-service-to-be-livestreamed-20140604-story.html|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.wxii12.com/news/program-note-maya-angelou-coverage-saturday/26348362#!XsdTo|title=PROGRAM NOTE: Maya Angelou, French Open|publisher=[[WXII]]|access-date=June 11, 2014|date=June 7, 2014|archive-date=June 22, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140622114047/http://www.wxii12.com/news/program-note-maya-angelou-coverage-saturday/26348362#!XsdTo|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://myfox8.com/2014/06/05/maya-angelou-memorial-service-set-for-saturday-will-be-shown-live-on-fox8-and-myfox8-com/|title=Maya Angelou memorial service set for Saturday, will be shown live on FOX8 and MyFOX8.com|publisher=[[WGHP]]|access-date=June 11, 2014|date=June 5, 2014|archive-date=June 9, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140609061344/http://myfox8.com/2014/06/05/maya-angelou-memorial-service-set-for-saturday-will-be-shown-live-on-fox8-and-myfox8-com/|url-status=live}}</ref> On June 15, a memorial was held at [[Glide Memorial Church]] in San Francisco, where Angelou was a member for many years. Rev. [[Cecil Williams (pastor)|Cecil Williams]], Mayor [[Ed Lee (politician)|Ed Lee]], and former mayor [[Willie Brown (politician)|Willie Brown]] spoke.<ref>{{Cite news|url = http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Maya-Angelou-Remembered-as-Daughter-of-San-Francisco--263230081.html|title = Maya Angelou Remembered as 'Daughter of San Francisco' at Glide Memorial Church|last1 = Smith|first1 = Christie|date = June 15, 2014|work = NBC Bay Area.com|access-date = June 16, 2014|last2 = Cestone|first2 = Vince|archive-date = June 17, 2014|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20140617083126/http://www.nbcbayarea.com/news/local/Maya-Angelou-Remembered-as-Daughter-of-San-Francisco--263230081.html|url-status = live}}</ref>

== Works ==
{{Main|List of Maya Angelou works}}

Angelou wrote a total of seven autobiographies. According to scholar Mary Jane Lupton, Angelou's third autobiography ''[[Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas]]'' marked the first time a well-known African American autobiographer had written a third volume about her life.<ref>Lupton, p. 98.</ref> Her books "stretch over time and place", from Arkansas to Africa and back to the U.S., and take place from the beginnings of World War II to the [[assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.]]<ref>Lupton, p. 1.</ref> In her fifth autobiography, ''[[All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes]]'' (1986), Angelou tells about her return to Ghana searching for the past of her tribe.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Norwich|first=John Julius|title=Oxford Illustrated Encyclopedia Of The Arts|url=https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw|url-access=limited|publisher=Oxford University Press|year=1990|isbn=978-0198691372|location=US|pages=[https://archive.org/details/oxfordillustrate00norw/page/16 16]-17}}</ref> She published her seventh autobiography ''[[Mom & Me & Mom]]'' in 2013, at the age of 85.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Angelou: Writing about Mom emotional process|date = April 7, 2013|url = http://www.journalnow.com/relishnow/the_arts/books_and_literature/article_a103ef34-9f04-11e2-ad1f-0019bb30f31a.html|last = Gilmor|first = Susan|work = The Winston-Salem Journal|access-date = April 14, 2013|archive-date = June 19, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180619163712/http://www.journalnow.com/relishnow/the_arts/books_and_literature/article_a103ef34-9f04-11e2-ad1f-0019bb30f31a.html|url-status = live}}</ref> Critics have tended to give ''Caged Bird'' the highest praise. Angelou wrote five collections of essays, which writer [[Hilton Als]] called her "wisdom books" and "homilies strung together with autobiographical texts".<ref name="als" /> Angelou used the same editor throughout her writing career, [[Robert Loomis]], an executive editor at [[Random House]]; he retired in 2011<ref>{{Cite news|title = Robert Loomis, Editor of Styron, Angelou, Retires|date = May 6, 2011|url = http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/6/robert-loomis-editor-of-styron-angelou-retires/|last = Italie|first = Hillel|work = The Washington Times|access-date = December 20, 2013|agency = Associated Press|archive-date = May 5, 2019|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20190505233430/https://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2011/may/6/robert-loomis-editor-of-styron-angelou-retires/|url-status = live}}</ref> and has been called "one of publishing's hall of fame editors."<ref>{{Cite news|title = Making Books; Familiarity Breeds Content|date = April 12, 2001|url = https://www.nytimes.com/2001/04/12/books/making-books-familiarity-breeds-content.html|last = Martin|first = Arnold|work = The New York Times|access-date = December 20, 2013|archive-date = February 10, 2009|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20090210073426/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9801E0D91731F931A25757C0A9679C8B63&n=Top/Reference/Times%20Topics/People/T/Tyler,%20Anne|url-status = live}}</ref> Angelou said regarding Loomis: "We have a relationship that's kind of famous among publishers."<ref>Tate, p. 155.</ref>

{{quote box
| align = right
| width = 25em
| quote = All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.
| salign = right
| source = Maya Angelou<ref>{{cite book| last = McPherson| first = Dolly A.| title = Order Out of Chaos: The Autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou| publisher = Peter Lang Publishing| year = 1990| location = New York| pages = 10–11| isbn = 978-0-8204-1139-2}}</ref>
}}

Angelou's long and extensive career also included poetry, plays, screenplays for television and film, directing, acting, and public speaking. She was a prolific writer of poetry; her volume ''[[Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie]]'' (1971) was nominated for the [[Pulitzer Prize]], and she was chosen by U.S. president Bill Clinton to recite her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" during his inauguration in 1993.<ref name="wordsmith" /><ref name="moyer">{{Cite book|title = The R.A.T. Real-World Aptitude Test: Preparing Yourself for Leaving Home|last = Moyer|first = Homer E|publisher = Capital Books|year = 2003|isbn = 978-1-931868-42-6|location = Herndon, New York|page = 297}}</ref>

Angelou's successful acting career included roles in numerous plays, films, and television programs, among them her appearance in the television mini-series ''[[Roots (1977 miniseries)|Roots]]'' in 1977. Her screenplay, ''Georgia, Georgia'' (1972), was the first original script by a Black woman to be produced, and she was the first African American woman to direct a major motion picture, ''Down in the Delta'', in 1998.<ref name="gillespie-144" />

=== Chronology of autobiographies ===
* ''[[I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings]]'' (1969): Up to 1944 (age 17)
* ''[[Gather Together in My Name]]'' (1974): 1944–48
* ''[[Singin' and Swingin' and Gettin' Merry Like Christmas]]'' (1976): 1949–55
* ''[[The Heart of a Woman]]'' (1981): 1957–62
* ''[[All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes]]'' (1986): 1962–65
* ''[[A Song Flung Up to Heaven]]'' (2002): 1965–68
* ''[[Mom & Me & Mom]]'' (2013): overview

== Reception and legacy ==
=== Influence ===
[[File:Angelou Obama.jpg|thumb|right|U.S. president Barack Obama presenting Angelou with the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]], 2011]]
When ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' was published in 1969, Angelou was hailed as a new kind of memoirist, one of the first African American women who were able to publicly discuss their personal lives. According to scholar Hilton Als, up to that point, Black female writers were marginalized to the point that they were unable to present themselves as central characters in the literature they wrote.<ref name="als" /> Linguist [[John McWhorter]] agreed, seeing Angelou's works, which he called "tracts", as "apologetic writing". He placed Angelou in the tradition of African American literature as a defense of Black culture, which he called "a literary manifestation of the imperative that reigned in the black scholarship of the period".<ref name="mcwhorter-40">McWhorter, p. 40.</ref> Writer Julian Mayfield, who called ''Caged Bird'' "a work of art that eludes description",<ref name="als" /> argued that Angelou's autobiographies set a precedent for not only other Black women writers, but also African American autobiography as a whole. Als said that ''Caged Bird'' marked one of the first times that a Black autobiographer could, as he put it, "write about blackness from the inside, without apology or defense".<ref name="als" /> Through the writing of her autobiography, Angelou became recognized and highly respected as a spokesperson for Blacks and women.<ref name="braxton-4">Braxton, p. 4.</ref> It made her "without a doubt,&nbsp;... America's most visible black woman autobiographer",<ref name="braxton-4" /> and "a major autobiographical voice of the time".<ref>Long, p. 85.</ref> As writer Gary Younge said, "Probably more than almost any other writer alive, Angelou's life literally is her work."<ref name="younge1" />

Als said that ''Caged Bird'' helped increase Black [[feminist]] writings in the 1970s, less through its originality than "its resonance in the prevailing [[Zeitgeist]]",<ref name="als" /> or the time in which it was written, at the end of the American [[Civil Rights Movement]]. Als also claimed that Angelou's writings, more interested in self-revelation than in politics or feminism, have freed other female writers to "open themselves up without shame to the eyes of the world".<ref name="als" /> Angelou critic [[Joanne M. Braxton]] stated that ''Caged Bird'' was "perhaps the most aesthetically pleasing" autobiography written by an African American woman in its era.<ref name="braxton-4" /> Angelou's poetry has influenced the modern [[hip-hop music]] community, including artists such as [[Kanye West]], [[Common (rapper)|Common]], [[Tupac Shakur]], and [[Nicki Minaj]].<ref>{{Cite magazine|url=https://time.com/125901/maya-angelou-rap-hip-hop/|title=A Brief History of How Maya Angelou Influenced Hip Hop|last=Feeney|first=Nolan|date=May 28, 2014|magazine=Time|access-date=November 14, 2014|archive-date=January 2, 2015|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150102040422/http://time.com/125901/maya-angelou-rap-hip-hop/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Critical reception ===
Reviewer [[Elsie B. Washington]] called Angelou "the black woman's poet laureate".<ref name="washington">{{Cite journal|title = A Song Flung Up to Heaven|date = March–April 2002|last = Washington|first = Elsie B.|journal = Black Issues Book Review|issue = 2|volume = 4|page = 56|url = https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Song+Flung+Up+to+Heaven.+(nonfiction+reviews)-a083553083|access-date = November 21, 2020|archive-date = March 3, 2022|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20220303170900/https://www.thefreelibrary.com/A+Song+Flung+Up+to+Heaven.+(nonfiction+reviews)-a083553083|url-status = live}}</ref> Sales of the paperback version of her books and poetry rose by 300–600% the week after Angelou's recitation. [[Random House]], which published the poem later that year, had to reprint 400,000 copies of all her books to keep up with the demand. They sold more of her books in January 1993 than they did in all of 1992, accounting for a 1,200% increase.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Chronicle|date = January 30, 1993|url = https://www.nytimes.com/1993/01/30/style/chronicle-575993.html|last = Brozan|first = Nadine|work = The New York Times|access-date = December 21, 2013|archive-date = January 11, 2011|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20110111040908/http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F0CEEDA113CF933A05752C0A965958260|url-status = live}}</ref> Angelou famously said, in response to criticism regarding using the details of her life in her work, "I agree with [[Balzac]] and 19th-century writers, black and white, who say, 'I write for money'."<ref name="younge1" /> Younge, speaking after the publication of Angelou's third book of essays, ''[[Letter to My Daughter]]'' (2008), has said, "For the last couple of decades she has merged her various talents into a kind of performance art—issuing a message of personal and social uplift by blending poetry, song and conversation."<ref name="younge2" />

Angelou's books, especially ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'', have been criticized by many parents, causing their removal from school curricula and library shelves. According to the [[National Coalition Against Censorship]], some parents and some schools have objected to ''Caged Bird''{{'}}s depictions of lesbianism, premarital cohabitation, pornography, and violence.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/796|title = Maya Angelou, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings|access-date = December 21, 2013|publisher = National Coalition Against Censorship|archive-date = September 15, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112912/http://www.thefileroom.org/documents/dyn/DisplayCase.cfm/id/796|url-status = live}}</ref> Some have been critical of the book's sexually explicit scenes, use of language, and irreverent depictions of religion.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Banned in the USA: A Reference Guide to Book Censorship in Schools and Public Libraries|last = Foerstel|first = Herbert N. |publisher = Information Age Publishing|year = 2006|isbn = 978-1-59311-374-2|location = Westport, Connecticut|pages = 195–6}}</ref> ''Caged Bird'' appeared third on the [[American Library Association]] (ALA) list of the 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000 and sixth on the ALA's 2000–2009 list.<ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.ala.org/bbooks/100-most-frequently-challenged-books-1990%E2%80%931999|title = The 100 Most Frequently Challenged Books of 1990–2000|access-date = December 21, 2013|publisher = American Library Association|date = March 27, 2013|archive-date = July 24, 2017|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20170724012729/http://www.ala.org/bbooks/100-most-frequently-challenged-books-1990%E2%80%931999|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009|title = Top 100 Banned/Challenged Books: 2000–2009|access-date = December 21, 2013|publisher = American Library Association|date = March 27, 2013|archive-date = December 13, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20161213015126/http://www.ala.org/bbooks/top-100-bannedchallenged-books-2000-2009|url-status = live}}</ref>

=== Awards and honors ===
{{Main|List of awards and honors received by Maya Angelou}}

Angelou was honored by universities, literary organizations, government agencies, and special interest groups. Her honors included a [[Pulitzer Prize]] nomination for her book of poetry, ''Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie,''<ref name="moyer" /> a [[Tony Award]] nomination for her role in the 1973 play ''Look Away'', and three [[Grammy Award|Grammys]] for her spoken-word albums.<ref>{{Cite magazine |title = Grammy Gold|date=March 3, 2003|last=Maughan|first = Shannon|magazine = Publishers Weekly|volume = 250|issue = 9|page = 38}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search|title = Past Winners|access-date = December 21, 2013|website = Tony Awards|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160831204617/http://www.tonyawards.com/p/tonys_search|archive-date = August 31, 2016|url-status=dead|df = mdy-all}}</ref> She served on two presidential committees,<ref name="poetry">{{cite web|url = http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maya-angelou|title = Maya Angelou|access-date = December 20, 2013|website = Poetry Foundation|archive-date = April 8, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160408163516/http://www.poetryfoundation.org/bio/maya-angelou|url-status = live}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url = http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7247|title = National Commission on the observance of International Women's Year, 1975 Appointment of Members and Presiding Officer of the Commission|date = March 28, 1977|access-date = December 21, 2013|website = The American Presidency Project|archive-date = December 24, 2013|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20131224111640/http://www.presidency.ucsb.edu/ws/index.php?pid=7247|url-status = live}}</ref> and was awarded the [[Spingarn Medal]] in 1994,<ref>{{cite web|title=Spingarn Medal Winners |url=http://www.naacp.org/pages/spingarn-medal-winners |website=NAACP |access-date=June 7, 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140802063355/http://www.naacp.org/pages/spingarn-medal-winners |archive-date=August 2, 2014 }}</ref> the [[National Medal of Arts]] in 2000,<ref>{{Cite news|title = Sculptor, Painter among National Medal of Arts Winners|date = December 20, 2000|url = http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/12/20/national.medal.of.arts/index.html|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050417070254/http://www-cgi.cnn.com/2000/STYLE/arts/12/20/national.medal.of.arts/index.html|url-status=dead|archive-date = April 17, 2005|publisher = CNN|access-date = December 21, 2013}}</ref> and the [[Presidential Medal of Freedom]] in 2011.<ref>{{Cite news|title = Obama awards freedom medals to Bush, Merkel, Buffett|date = February 15, 2011|url = https://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-medals-idUSTRE71E60P20110215?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews|last = Norton|first = Jerry|access-date = December 21, 2013|work = Reuters|archive-date = March 12, 2016|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20160312045838/http://www.reuters.com/article/us-obama-medals-idUSTRE71E60P20110215?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews|url-status = live}}</ref> Angelou was awarded more than fifty honorary degrees.<ref name=whosehonor>{{cite news|last1=Stanley|first1=Alessandra|title=Whose Honor Is It, Anyway|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/17/style/whose-honor-is-it-anyway.html|access-date=November 23, 2014|work=The New York Times|date=May 17, 1992|archive-date=December 5, 2014|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141205172654/http://www.nytimes.com/1992/05/17/style/whose-honor-is-it-anyway.html|url-status=live}}</ref> In 2021, the [[United States Mint]] announced that Angelou would be among the first women depicted on the reverse of the [[Quarter (United States coin)|quarter]] as a part of the [[American Women quarters]] series.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters|title=American Women Quarters™ Program|date=August 2, 2021|access-date=August 19, 2021|website=[[United States Mint]]|archive-date=May 6, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210506080857/https://www.usmint.gov/learn/coin-and-medal-programs/american-women-quarters|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|date=June 17, 2021|title=U.S. Mint to issue quarters honoring notable American women|publisher=NBC News|agency=Associated Press|url=https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/u-s-mint-issue-quarters-honoring-notable-american-women-n1271261|access-date=August 20, 2021|archive-date=August 20, 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210820160513/https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/u-s-mint-issue-quarters-honoring-notable-american-women-n1271261|url-status=live}}</ref> The coins were released in January 2022. She is the first Black woman to be depicted on a quarter.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/01/10/maya-angelou-quarters-distributed-us/9160875002/|title=Maya Angelou coins distributed by US Mint make her first Black woman to appear on quarters|last=Mendoza|first=Jordan|date=January 11, 2022|work=USA Today|access-date=January 12, 2022|archive-date=January 12, 2022|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220112000857/https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2022/01/10/maya-angelou-quarters-distributed-us/9160875002/|url-status=live}}</ref>

=== Uses in education ===
Angelou's autobiographies have been used in narrative and multicultural approaches in [[teacher education]]. Jocelyn A. Glazier, a professor at [[George Washington University]], has trained teachers how to "talk about race" in their classrooms with ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings'' and ''Gather Together in My Name''. According to Glazier, Angelou's use of understatement, self-mockery, humor, and irony have left readers of Angelou's autobiographies unsure of what she left out and how they should respond to the events she described. Angelou's depictions of her experiences of racism have forced white readers to either explore their feelings about race and their own "privileged status", or to avoid the discussion as a means of keeping their privilege. Glazier found that critics have focused on the way Angelou fits within the genre of African American autobiography and on her [[literary techniques]], but readers have tended to react to her storytelling with "surprise, particularly when [they] enter the text with certain expectations about the genre of autobiography".<ref>{{Cite journal|title = Moving Closer to Speaking the Unspeakable: White Teachers Talking about Race|date=Winter 2003|url = http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/teqwinter2003/glazier.pdf|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20050401042033/http://www.calfac.org/allpdf/teqwinter2003/glazier.pdf|archive-date=April 1, 2005|last= Glazier|first= Jocelyn A.|journal = Teacher Education Quarterly|access-date =December 21, 2013|volume = 30|issue = 1|pages = 73–94}}</ref>

Educator Daniel Challener, in his 1997 book ''Stories of Resilience in Childhood'', analyzed the events in ''Caged Bird'' to illustrate resiliency in children. He argued that Angelou's book has provided a "useful framework" for exploring the obstacles many children like Maya have faced and how their communities have helped them succeed.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Stories of Resilience in Childhood|last = Challener|first = Daniel D.|publisher = Taylor & Francis|year =1997 |isbn = 978-0-8153-2800-1|location = London, England|pages = 22–3}}</ref> Psychologist Chris Boyatzis has reported using ''Caged Bird'' to supplement scientific theory and research in the instruction of [[child development]] topics such as the development of self-concept and self-esteem, ego resilience, industry versus inferiority, effects of abuse, parenting styles, sibling and friendship relations, gender issues, cognitive development, puberty, and identity formation in adolescence. He found ''Caged Bird'' a "highly effective" tool for providing real-life examples of these psychological concepts.<ref>{{Cite journal|title=Let the Caged Bird Sing: Using Literature to Teach Developmental Psychology|date=February 1992|last=Boyatzis|first=Chris J.|journal=Teaching of Psychology|volume=19|issue= 4|pages = 221–2|doi = 10.1207/s15328023top1904_5|citeseerx=10.1.1.1030.5582|s2cid=145274568}}</ref>

== Poetry ==
{{Main|Poetry of Maya Angelou}}
[[File:Portrait photograph of Tom Feelings and Maya Angelou by Ted Pontiflet from the 1987 first-edition dust jacket of Now Sheba Sings the Song.jpg|thumb|Angelou with [[Tom Feelings]], who illustrated ''[[Now Sheba Sings the Song]]'', her 1987 book of poetry.]]
Angelou is best known for her seven autobiographies, but she was also a prolific and successful poet. She was called "the black woman's poet laureate", and her poems have been called the anthems of African Americans.<ref name="washington" /> Angelou studied and began writing poetry at a young age, and used poetry and other great literature to cope with her rape as a young girl, as described in ''Caged Bird''.<ref name="angelou-13" /> According to scholar Yasmin Y. DeGout, literature also affected Angelou's sensibilities as the poet and writer she became, especially the "liberating discourse that would evolve in her own poetic canon".<ref>DeGout, p. 122.</ref>

Many critics consider Angelou's autobiographies more important than her poetry.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Dictionary of Literary Biography African American Writers after 1955|last = Bloom|first = Lynn Z.|publisher = Gale Research Company|year = 1985|isbn = 978-0-8103-1716-1|location = Detroit, Michigan|pages = [https://archive.org/details/afroamericanwrit0038unse/page/10 10–11]|volume = 38|chapter = Maya Angelou|chapter-url = https://archive.org/details/afroamericanwrit0038unse/page/10}}</ref> Although all her books have been bestsellers, her poetry has not been perceived to be as serious as her prose and has been understudied.<ref name="lupton-4" /> Her poems were more interesting when she recited and performed them, and many critics emphasized the public aspect of her poetry.<ref>Burr, p. 181.</ref> Angelou's lack of critical acclaim has been attributed to both the public nature of many of her poems and to Angelou's popular success, and to critics' preferences for poetry as a written form rather than a verbal, performed one.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Maya Angelou|last = Bloom|first = Harold|publisher = Chelsea House Publishers|year = 2001|isbn = 978-0-7910-5937-1|location = Broomall, Pennsylvania|page = [https://archive.org/details/mayaangeloubloom00haro/page/9 9]|url = https://archive.org/details/mayaangeloubloom00haro/page/9}}</ref> Zofia Burr has countered Angelou's critics by condemning them for not taking into account Angelou's larger purposes in her writing: "to be representative rather than individual, authoritative rather than confessional".<ref>Burr, p. 183.</ref>

In the view of [[Harold Bloom]], Professor of Literature (Yale University and New York University) and literary critic:

{{blockquote|Her poetry has a large public, but very little critical esteem. It is, in every sense, "popular poetry," and makes no formal or cognitive demands upon the reader. Of Angelou's sincerity, good-will towards all, and personal vitality, there can be no doubt. She is professionally an inspirational writer, of the self-help variety, which perhaps places her beyond criticism. [...] Angelou seems best at ballads, the most traditional kind of popular poetry. The function of such work is necessarily social rather than aesthetic, particularly in an era totally dominated by visual media. One has to be grateful for the benignity, humor, and whole-heartedness of Angelou's project, even if her autobiographical prose necessarily centers her achievement.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Harold |title=Maya Angelou |date=2009 |publisher=Bloom's Literary Criticism |isbn=978-1-60413-177-2 |language=en |page=1}}</ref>}}

== Style and genre in autobiographies ==
{{Main|Themes in Maya Angelou's autobiographies}}

Angelou's use of fiction-writing techniques such as dialogue, characterization, and development of theme, setting, plot, and language has often resulted in the placement of her books into the genre of [[autobiographical fiction]].<ref>Lupton, pp. 29–30.</ref> Angelou made a deliberate attempt in her books to challenge the common structure of the autobiography by critiquing, changing, and expanding the genre.<ref>Lauret, p. 98.</ref> Scholar Mary Jane Lupton argues that all of Angelou's autobiographies conform to the genre's standard structure: they are written by a single author, they are chronological, and they contain elements of character, technique, and theme.<ref>Lupton, p. 32.</ref> Angelou recognizes that there are fictional aspects to her books; Lupton agrees, stating that Angelou tended to "diverge from the conventional notion of autobiography as truth",<ref name="lupton-34">Lupton, p. 34.</ref> which parallels the conventions of much of African American autobiography written during the [[Abolitionism in the United States|abolitionist]] period of U.S. history, when as both Lupton and African American scholar Crispin Sartwell put it, the truth was censored out of the need for self-protection.<ref name="lupton-34" /><ref>{{Cite book|title = Act Like You Know: African-American Autobiography and White Identity|last = Sartwell|first = Crispin|publisher = University of Chicago Press|year = 1998|isbn = 978-0-226-73527-6|location = Chicago|page = [https://archive.org/details/actlikeyouknowaf0000sart/page/26 26]|url = https://archive.org/details/actlikeyouknowaf0000sart/page/26}}</ref> Scholar Lyman B. Hagen places Angelou in the long tradition of African American autobiography but claims that Angelou created a unique interpretation of the autobiographical form.<ref>Hagen, pp. 6–7.</ref>

[[File:Maya Angelou visits YCP Feb 2013.jpg|right|thumb|upright|Angelou at [[York College of Pennsylvania|York College]] in February 2013]]
According to African American literature scholar Pierre A. Walker, the challenge for much of the history of African American literature was that its authors have had to confirm its status as literature before they could accomplish their political goals, which was why Angelou's editor [[Robert Loomis]] was able to dare her into writing ''Caged Bird'' by challenging her to write an autobiography that could be considered "high art".<ref name="Walker">Walker, p. 92.</ref> Angelou acknowledged that she followed the slave narrative tradition of "speaking in the first-person singular talking about the first-person plural, always saying I meaning 'we{{'"}}.<ref name="poetry" /> Scholar [[John McWhorter]] calls Angelou's books "tracts"<ref name="mcwhorter-40" /> that defend African American culture and fight negative stereotypes. According to McWhorter, Angelou structured her books, which to him seem to be written more for children than for adults, to support her defense of Black culture. McWhorter sees Angelou as she depicts herself in her autobiographies "as a kind of stand-in figure for the Black American in Troubled Times".<ref name="mcwhorter-40" /> McWhorter views Angelou's works as dated but recognizes that "she has helped to pave the way for contemporary black writers who are able to enjoy the luxury of being merely individuals, no longer representatives of the race, only themselves".<ref>McWhorter, p. 41.</ref> Scholar Lynn Z. Bloom compares Angelou's works to the writings of [[Frederick Douglass]], stating that both fulfilled the same purpose: to describe Black culture and to interpret it for their wider, white audiences.<ref>{{Cite book|title = Racism in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings|last = Bloom|first = Lynn Z.|publisher = Gale Press|year = 2008|isbn = 978-0-7377-3905-3|location = Detroit, Michigan|page = 17|editor-last = Johnson|editor-first = Claudia|chapter = The Life of Maya Angelou}}</ref>

According to scholar Sondra O'Neale, Angelou's poetry can be placed within the African American oral tradition, and her prose "follows classic technique in nonpoetic Western forms".<ref>O'Neale, p. 32.</ref> O'Neale states that Angelou avoided using a "monolithic Black language",<ref name="oneale-34">O'Neale, p. 34.</ref> and accomplished, through direct dialogue, what O'Neale calls a "more expected ghetto expressiveness".<ref name="oneale-34" /> McWhorter finds both the language Angelou used in her autobiographies and the people she depicted unrealistic, resulting in a separation between her and her audience. As McWhorter states, "I have never read autobiographical writing where I had such a hard time summoning a sense of how the subject talks, or a sense of who the subject really is".<ref>McWhorter, p. 39.</ref> McWhorter asserts, for example, that key figures in Angelou's books, like herself, her son Guy, and mother Vivian do not speak as one would expect, and that their speech is "cleaned up" for her readers.<ref>McWhorter, p. 38.</ref> Guy, for example, represents the young Black male, while Vivian represents the idealized mother figure, and the stiff language they use, as well as the language in Angelou's text, is intended to prove that Blacks can use standard English competently.<ref>McWhorter, pp. 40–41.</ref>

McWhorter recognizes that much of the reason for Angelou's style was the "apologetic" nature of her writing.<ref name="mcwhorter-40" /> When Angelou wrote ''Caged Bird'' at the end of the 1960s, one of the necessary and accepted features of literature at the time was "organic unity", and one of her goals was to create a book that satisfied that criterion.<ref name="Walker" /> The events in her books were episodic and crafted like a series of short stories, but their arrangements did not follow a strict chronology. Instead, they were placed to emphasize the [[Themes in Maya Angelou's autobiographies|themes of her books]], which include racism, identity, family, and travel. English literature scholar [[Valerie Sayers]] has asserted that "Angelou's poetry and prose are similar". They both rely on her "direct voice", which alternates steady rhythms with [[syncopated]] patterns and uses similes and metaphors (e.g., the caged bird).<ref>{{Cite news|title = Songs of Herself|date = September 28, 2008|url = https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/26/ST2008092601489.html|last = Sayers|first = Valerie|newspaper = [[The Washington Post]]|access-date = December 22, 2013|archive-date = September 15, 2018|archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20180915112649/http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/story/2008/09/26/ST2008092601489.html|url-status = live}}</ref> According to Hagen, Angelou's works were influenced by both conventional literary and the oral traditions of the African American community. For example, she referenced more than 100 literary characters throughout her books and poetry.<ref>Hagen, p. 63.</ref> In addition, she used the elements of [[blues music]], including the act of testimony when speaking of one's life and struggles, ironic understatement, and the use of natural metaphors, rhythms, and intonations.<ref>Hagen, p. 61.</ref> Angelou, instead of depending upon plot, used personal and historical events to shape her books.<ref>Lupton, p. 142.</ref>

== References ==
=== Explanatory notes ===
{{Reflist|30em|group=note}}

=== Citations ===
<references group="Citations" />{{reflist|20em|refs=
}}

=== Works cited ===
{{refbegin|30em}}
* Angelou, Maya (1969). ''I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings''. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|978-0-375-50789-2}}
* Angelou, Maya (1993). ''Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now''. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|978-0-394-22363-6}}
* Angelou, Maya (2008). ''Letter to My Daughter''. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|978-0-8129-8003-5}}
* Braxton, Joanne M., ed. (1999). ''Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook''. New York: Oxford Press. {{ISBN|978-0-19-511606-9}}
** Braxton, Joanne M. "Symbolic Geography and Psychic Landscapes: A Conversation with Maya Angelou", pp.&nbsp;3–20
** [[Claudia Tate|Tate, Claudia]]. "Maya Angelou: An Interview", pp.&nbsp;149–158
* Burr, Zofia (2002). ''Of Women, Poetry, and Power: Strategies of Address in Dickinson, Miles, Brooks, Lorde, and Angelou''. Urbana, Illinois: University of Illinois Press. {{ISBN|978-0-252-02769-7}}
* DeGout, Yasmin Y. (2009). "The Poetry of Maya Angelou: Liberation Ideology and Technique". In ''Bloom's Modern Critical Views – Maya Angelou'', Harold Bloom, ed. New York: [[Infobase Publishing]], pp.&nbsp;121–132. {{ISBN|978-1-60413-177-2}}
* Gillespie, Marcia Ann, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long (2008). ''Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration''. New York: Random House. {{ISBN|978-0-385-51108-7}}
* Hagen, Lyman B. (1997). ''Heart of a Woman, Mind of a Writer, and Soul of a Poet: A Critical Analysis of the Writings of Maya Angelou''. Lanham, Maryland: University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-7618-0621-9}}
* Lauret, Maria (1994). ''Liberating Literature: Feminist Fiction in America''. New York: Routledge Press. {{ISBN|978-0-415-06515-3}}
* Long, Richard (2005). "Maya Angelou". ''Smithsonian'' '''36''', (8): pp.&nbsp;84–85
* Lupton, Mary Jane (1998). ''Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion''. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. {{ISBN|978-0-313-30325-8}}
* McWhorter, John (2002). [http://www.tnr.com/article/saint-maya "Saint Maya."] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090921144832/http://www.tnr.com/article/saint-maya |date=September 21, 2009 }} ''The New Republic'' '''226''', (19): pp.&nbsp;35–41.
* O'Neale, Sondra (1984). "Reconstruction of the Composite Self: New Images of Black Women in Maya Angelou's Continuing Autobiography", in ''Black Women Writers (1950–1980): A Critical Evaluation'', [[Mari Evans]], ed. Garden City, N.Y: Doubleday. {{ISBN|978-0-385-17124-3}}
* Toppman, Lawrence (1989). "Maya Angelou: The Serene Spirit of a Survivor", in ''Conversations with Maya Angelou'', Jeffrey M. Elliot, ed. Jackson, Mississippi: University Press. {{ISBN|978-0-87805-362-9}}
* Walker, Pierre A. (October 1995). "Racial Protest, Identity, Words, and Form in Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings". ''College Literature'' '''22''', (3): pp.&nbsp;91–108.
{{refend}}

== External links ==
{{Wikiquote}}
{{Commons category|Maya Angelou}}
* {{Official website|http://www.mayaangelou.com/}}
* {{Discogs artist}}
* {{IMDb name|0029723}}
* {{IBDB name}}
* {{iobdb name|19129}}
* [https://archives.nypl.org/scm/22986 Maya Angelou papers] at [[New York Public Library]]
* [https://mayaangelou.wfu.edu/ Maya Angelou] memorial service at [[Wake Forest University]], June 7, 2014.
* Spring, Kelly. [https://www.womenshistory.org/education-resources/biographies/maya-angelou "Maya Angelou"]. National Women's History Museum. 2017.
* Gail Mitchell, [https://www.billboard.com/music/music-news/maya-angelou-caged-bird-songs-released-6304500/ "Maya Angelou's Posthumous Album, 'Caged Bird Songs,' Debuts"], ''Billboard'', November 4, 2014.
* {{C-SPAN|25761}}
* [https://www.democracynow.org/2016/2/16/maya_angelou_and_still_i_rise {{"'}}Maya Angelou: And Still I Rise': First Film on Writer and Activist Chronicles an Extraordinary Life"], ''[[Democracy Now!]]'', February 16, 2016.

{{Maya Angelou Literary Works}}
{{Navboxes
|title = [[List of honors received by Maya Angelou|Awards for Maya Angelou]]
|list =
{{Arkansas Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album}}
{{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Nonfiction}}
{{NAACP Image Award for Outstanding Literary Work – Poetry}}
{{National Medal of Arts recipients 2000s}}
{{National Women's Hall of Fame}}
{{Spingarn Medal}}
}}

{{Authority control}}

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[[Category:Maya Angelou| ]]
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[[Category:Actresses from St. Louis]]
[[Category:African-American activists]]
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[[Category:American autobiographers]]
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[[Category:American people of Mende descent]]
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[[Category:20th-century American women poets]]
[[Category:American women short story writers]]
[[Category:Anti-apartheid activists]]
[[Category:Baptists from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Dancers from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Dancers from Missouri]]
[[Category:Grammy Award winners]]
[[Category:Writers from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Memoirists from Missouri]]
[[Category:People from Stamps, Arkansas]]
[[Category:Poets from Arkansas]]
[[Category:Poets from Missouri]]
[[Category:Presidential Medal of Freedom recipients]]
[[Category:Wake Forest University faculty]]
[[Category:Writers from San Francisco]]
[[Category:20th-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:21st-century American memoirists]]
[[Category:21st-century American women poets]]