CNN Editorial Research
(CNN) — Here is a look at the life of Grammy-winning author and poet Maya Angelou.
Personal
Birth date: April 4, 1928
Death date: May 28, 2014
Birth place: St. Louis, Missouri
Birth name: Marguerite Annie Johnson
Father: Bailey Johnson, doorman
Mother: Vivian (Baxter) Johnson, nurse
Marriages: Paul du Feu (1973-1980, divorced); Tosh Angelos (divorced)
Children: Clyde “Guy” Johnson, 1944
Education: Attended California Labor School, 1942
Other Facts
Author, poet, actor, singer, songwriter, dancer, playwright, historian, civil rights activist and teacher.
Fluent in six languages: English, French, Spanish, Italian, Arabic and West African Fanti.
First African American female member of the Directors Guild of America.
Studied dance with Pearl Primus in New York.
Won three Grammy awards.
Nominated for a Tony Award.
Timeline
1931 – Her parents divorce and Angelou is sent, with her brother Bailey, to live with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, in Stamps, Arkansas.
1935 – Angelou and her brother move to St. Louis to live with their mother.
1936 – Is raped by her mother’s boyfriend, Mr. Freeman. After Angelou confides in her brother and testifies at Freeman’s trial, Freeman is found beaten to death, apparently at the hands of Angelou’s uncles. Angelou stops speaking in public for five years as a result of her guilt and belief that her words had caused Freeman’s murder. This is the basis for her first autobiography, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.”
1942 – While a high school student, she studies drama and dance at the California Labor School, a college for adults. Drops out to become San Francisco’s first female African American cable car conductor.
1950s – Nightclub performer at the Purple Onion in San Francisco, Mr. Kelly’s in Chicago, and Blue Angel and Village Vanguard in New York.
1954-1955 – Tours Europe and Africa as Ruby in a State Department-sponsored production of “Porgy and Bess.” Also, teaches modern dance in Italy and Israel.
1957 – Her only recorded album, “Miss Calypso,” is released.
1960 – Writes, produces, directs and performs in the musical revue, “Cabaret for Freedom,” to raise money for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC). Succeeds Bayard Rustin as the northern coordinator for the SCLC.
1961-1962 – Moves to Egypt, and becomes the associate editor of the Arab Observer.
1963-1966 – Lives in Ghana and works as an assistant administrator for the School of Music & Drama at the University of Ghana and as a feature editor for the African Review.
1970 – “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings” is published. It is later broadcast on national television in 1979, with a script and musical score written by Angelou.
1972 – Nominated for a Pulitzer Prize for “Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water ‘fore I Diiie.”
1972 – Becomes the first African American woman to have an original screenplay produced as a