Angelou


 * 1) "Maya Angelou." //St. James Guide to Young Adult Writers //. Gale, 1999. //Gale Biography In Context //. Web. 23 Feb. 2012.


 * Pseudonym for Marguerita Annie Johnson. Nationality:  American. Born:  St. Louis, Missouri, 4 April 1928. Education:  Attended __schools__ in Arkansas and California; studied music privately, dance with Martha Graham, Pearl Primus, and Ann Halprin, and drama with Frank Silvera and Gene Frankel. Family:  Married 1) Tosh Angelou in 1950 (divorced); 2) Paul Du Feu in 1973 (divorced 1981), one son. Career:  Author, poet, playwright, professional stage and screen producer, director, and performer, and singer. Taught modern dance at Habima Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel, and the Rome Opera House, Rome, Italy. Appeared in Porgy and Bess on twenty-two-nation tour sponsored by the U.S. Department of State, 1954-55; appeared in Off- Broadway plays Calypso Heatwave, 1957, and The Blacks, 1960; produced and performed in Cabaret for Freedom, with Godfrey Cambridge, Off-Broadway, 1960; University of Ghana, Institute of African Studies, Legon-Accra, Ghana, assistant administrator of School of Music and Drama, 1963-66; appeared in Mother Courage at University of Ghana, 1964, and in Meda in Hollywood, 1966; made Broadway debut in Look Away, 1973; directed film All Day Long, 1974, and Down in the Delta, Miramax, 1998; directed her play And Still I Rise in California, 1976; directed Errol John's Moon on a Rainbow Shawl in London, England, 1988; appeared in film Roots, 1977. Television narrator, interviewer, and host for Afro-American specials and theatre series, 1972; radio show host, "Oprah and Friends" channel, XM Satellite Radio, 2006. Lecturer at University of California, Los Angeles, 1966; writer in residence at University of Kansas, 1970; distinguished visiting professor at Wake Forest University, 1974, Wichita State University, 1974, and __California State University__, Sacramento, 1974; professor at Wake Forest University, 1981--. Northern coordinator of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, 1959-60; appointed member of American Revolution Bicentennial Council by President Gerald R. Ford, 1975-76; member of National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year. <span class="bold" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Awards: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Nominated for National Book Award, 1970, for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; Yale University fellowship, 1970; Pulitzer __Prize__ nomination, 1972, for Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'Fore I Diiie; Antoinette Perry ("Tony") Award nomination from League of New York Theatres and Producers, 1973, for performance in Look Away; Rockefeller Foundation scholar in Italy, 1975; honorary degrees from Smith College, 1975, Mills College, 1975, Lawrence University, 1976, and Wake Forest University, 1977; named Woman of the Year in Communications by Ladies' Home Journal, 1976; Tony Award nomination for best supporting actress, 1977, for Roots; named one of the top one hundred most influential women by Ladies Home Journal, 1983; North Carolina Award in Literature, 1987; named Woman of the Year by Essence magazine, 1992; named Distinguished Woman of North Carolina, 1992; recipient, Horatio Alger Award, 1992; Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word or Non-Traditional Album, 1994, for recording of "On The Pulse of the Morning"; Coretta Scott King Award for Illustration, 1994, for Soul Looks Back in Wonder; Quills Award for Poetry, 2006, for Amazing Peace. <span class="bold" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Agent: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Gerald W. Purcell Associates Ltd., 133 Fifth Ave., New York, NY 10003. <span class="bold" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Address: <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> Department of Humanities, Wake Forest University, Reynolds Station, Winston-Salem, North Carolina 27109, U.S.A.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Quotes:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">The biographical facts of Angelou's early life in Stamps, Arkansas in the 1930s--where she lived from the age of three to thirteen with Grandmother "Momma" Henderson after the divorce of her parents--are interwoven in her first autobiography, the highly successful and immensely popular <span class="italics" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> (1970). This book contains a series of anecdotes linked together by a theme of displacement: "If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl," she writes, "being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat. It is an unnecessary insult." <span class="italics" style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Caged Bird <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;"> takes Angelou through high school graduation and the birth of her son. It includes most of the general elements of childhood autobiographies. A lack of self-esteem and a sense of insignificance show when Angelou says she is "Awful" because she wears hand-me-down clothes, and is a "too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil." Rejection is a factor related to the mostly absent mother and to the father, who is never depicted as affectionate. Being black in a segregated society, Angelou sees herself as dependent, ineffective, and small. She has to rely on the kindness of others--mainly her grandmother.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Born: **April 04, 1928 in United States, Missouri, St. Louis
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Nationality: **American
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; background-color: transparent; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline; vertical-align: baseline;">** Occupation: **Writer
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"If growing up is painful for the Southern Black girl," she writes, "being aware of her displacement is the rust on the razor that threatens the throat.
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"too-big Negro girl, with nappy black hair, broad feet and a space between her teeth that would hold a number-two pencil."


 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"Angelou, Maya (1928-)." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Encyclopedia of World Biography //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. Detroit: Gale, 1998. //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; vertical-align: baseline;">Gale Biography In Context //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">. Web. 15 Feb. 2012.


 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Growing up in rural Stamps, Arkansas, with her brother, Bailey, she lived with her pious grandmother, who owned a general store. She attended public schools in Arkansas and California, and became San Francisco's first female streetcar conductor. Later she studied dance with Martha Graham and drama with Frank Silvera, and went on to a career in theater. She appeared in Porgy and Bess, which toured 22 countries; on Broadway in Look Away; and in several off-Broadway plays, including Cabaret for Freedom, which she wrote in collaboration with Godfrey Cambridge.

<span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Quotes:
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Angelou has taught at several American colleges and universities, including the University of California at Los Angeles, the University of Kansas, Wichita State University, and California State University at Sacramento. Since the early 1980s, she has been Reynolds Professor and writer-in-residence at Wake Forest University.
 * <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Widely celebrated by popular audiences and critics, Angelou has a long roster of recognitions, including: a nomination for National Book Award, 1970, for I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings; a Yale University fellowship, 1970; a Pulitzer Prize nomination, 1972, for Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie; an Antoinette Perry ("Tony" ) Award nomination from League of New York Theatres and Producers, 1973, for performance in Look Away; Rockefeller Foundation scholar in Italy, 1975; honorary degrees from Smith College, 1975, Mills College, 1975, Lawrence University, 1976, and Wake Forest University, 1977; a Tony Award nomination for best supporting actress, 1977, for Roots; and the North Carolina Award in Literature, 1987. In the 1970s she was appointed to the Bicentennial Commission by President Gerald Ford, and the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year by Jimmy Carter. She was also named Woman of the Year in Communications by Ladies' Home Journal, 1976; and named one of the top one hundred most influential women by Ladies' Home Journal, 1983.
 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"not afraid of the ties [between past and present]. I cherish them, rather. It's the vulnerability ... it's allowing oneself to be hypnotized."
 * 2) <span style="background-color: #fefdfb; color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">"That's frightening because we have no defenses, nothing. We've slipped down the well and every side is slippery. And how on earth are you going to come out? That's scary. But I've chosen it, and I've chosen this mode as my mode."


 * 1) <span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">"Maya Angelou Biography -- Academy of Achievement." //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">Academy of Achievement Main Menu //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. Web. 16 Feb. 2012. <http://www.achievement.org/autodoc/page/ang0bio-1>.

Maya Angelou returned to America in 1964, with the intention of helping Malcolm X build his new Organization of African American Unity. Shortly after her arrival in the United States, Malcolm X was assassinated, and his plans for a new organization died with him. Angelou involved herself in television production and remained active in the Civil Rights Movement, working more closely with Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., who requested that Angelou serve as Northern Coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. His assassination, falling on her birthday in 1968, left her devastated. With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she found solace in writing, and began work on the book that would become //I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings//. The book tells the story of her life from her childhood in Arkansas to the birth of her child. //I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings// was published in 1970 to widespread critical acclaim and enormous popular success.

Seemingly overnight, Angelou became a national figure. In the following years, books of her verse and the subsequent volumes of her autobiographical narrative won her a huge international audience. She was increasingly in demand as a teacher and lecturer and continued to explore dramatic forms as well. She wrote the screenplay and composed the score for the film //Georgia, Georgia// (1972). Her screenplay, the first by an African American woman ever to be filmed, was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize.Angelou has been invited by successive Presidents of the United States to serve in various capacities. President Ford appointed her to the American Revolution Bicentennial Commission and President Carter invited her to serve on the Presidential Commission for the International Year of the Woman. President Clinton requested that she compose a poem to read at his inauguration in 1993. Angelou's reading of her poem "On the Pulse of the Morning" was broadcast live around the world.Since 1981, Angelou has served as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She has continued to appear on television and in films including //Poetic Justice// (1993) and the landmark television adaptation of //Roots// (1977). She has directed numerous dramatic and documentary programs on television and directed her first feature film, //Down in the Delta//, in 1996.
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==== <span style="color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">In 2000, Dr. Angelou was honored with the Presidential Medal of the Arts; she received the Ford's Theatre <span style="background-color: #f1f6e2; color: #3f2911; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">[|Lincoln Medal] <span style="color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> in 2008. The same year, she narrated the award-winning documentary film //<span style="background-color: #f1f6e2; color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">The Black Candle //<span style="color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;"> and published a book of guidance for young women, //<span style="background-color: #f1f6e2; color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">Letter to My Daughter //<span style="color: #6d644a; font-family: Arial,Verdana,Helvetica,sans-serif;">. In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded her the nation's highest civilian honor, the Presidential Medal of Freedom. ====


 * <span style="color: #333333; font-family: Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 21px;">Printed Source Citation: //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">American Ethnic Writers //<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 16px;">. Vol. 1. Pasadena, California: Salem, 2008. Print. Magill's Choice.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; line-height: 24px;">1. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Maya Angelou, the African-American poet who is one of the most influential and respected literary voices of the modern age, has written a poem praising Hillary Clinton's presidential campaign for The Observer.Angelou, author of an autobiographical series of books, including the international bestseller I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, was moved to send the verse after being asked by the newspaper for her reflections on Clinton. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">She is supporting Clinton despite her close friendship with television personality and philanthropist Oprah Winfrey, a prominent backer of rival Democrat Barack Obama, the first black presidential hopeful with a real [|chance] of reaching the White House. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #333333; font-family: arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px;">Angelou is steadfast in her loyalty to Clinton. She said recently: 'I made up my mind 15 years ago that if she ever ran for office I'd be on her wagon. My only difficulty with [|Senator Obama] is that I believe in going out with who I went in with []

2.<span style="background-color: #ffffff; font-family: Georgia,'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 14px;">Obama said Bush's "life is a testament that public service is a noble calling." He praised Angelou for rising above an abusive childhood to inspire others with her words, saying her voice has "spoken to millions, including my mother, which is why my sister is named Maya."

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3. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">The medal is the nation’s highest civilian honor and is awarded to individuals who have made significant [|contributions] “to the security or national interests of the United States, to world peace, or to cultural or other significant public or private endeavors.” <span style="background-color: #ffffff; color: #404040; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue',Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; vertical-align: baseline;">“This is one of the things I most look forward to every year,” Obama said, calling the honorees “the best of who we are and who we aspire to be.”

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4. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.5em; text-align: left;">Messages left at Angelou’s Wake Forest University office in Winston-Salem, N.C., and the offices of her [|literary agent] and her representative for speaking engagements were not returned. Her assistant did not immediately respond to an email. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.5em; text-align: left;">The 83-year-old poet is hosting a radio special on the civil rights era airing on public radio stations across the U.S. <span style="background-color: #ffffff; display: block; font-family: Georgia,serif; font-size: 1.5em; text-align: left;">Last year, President Barack Obama presented Angelou with the Presidential Medal of Freedom. She also has received the Presidential Medal of Arts and the [|Lincoln] Medal.

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