Nearly a decade since her death in May 2014, author, poet, and civil rights activist Maya Angelou, remains one of the most celebrated voices in contemporary literature. Angelou built a legacy that has left an indelible mark on the world; however, her own early life challenges left her with a passion for emphasizing the importance of grace and second chances.
Angelou, originally named Marguerite Annie Johnson, was born on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis. She was the second child born to Bailey Baxter Johnson, a practicing dietician, and Vivian Baxter Johnson, who was a nurse. Angelou was given the nickname of “Maya” by her older brother, also named Bailey.
At 3 years old, Angelou and her brother were sent alone by train to live with their grandmother, Annie Henderson in Stamps, Arkansas. She developed a sense of rejection from her mother from being sent away for reasons she could not understand at such a young age.
Throughout her adolescent years, Angelou underwent a tumultuous period of sexual abuse, and became quite withdrawn from others, and in turn, she developed a deep love for reading, literature and a keen sense of observation.
Despite the extreme trials of her young life, Angelou said her grandmother ultimately inspired her to find her voice and manifest her dreams.
Before her claim to fame, Angelou found herself in a series of transitions. She became a mother to her only son, Guy Johnson, worked a series of jobs in the night life—specifically strip clubs– and later grew into other styles of dance and activism. During an interview with photographer and writer Linda Wolf, Angelou explained why she poured her truth into her work: to offer young people compassion for themselves amid their life journey.
“I wrote about my experience 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,’” Angelou told Wolf. “They lie like that, and then young people find themselves in situations and they think, ‘Damn, I must be a pretty bad guy. You know, my mom or dad never did anything wrong, so I’m pretty bad,’ and they can’t forgive themselves and go on with their lives.”
See Forever Foundation’s Maya Angelou Public Charter Schools are inspired by the same goals of their namesake: to offer second chances to at-risk D.C. youth. The first Maya Angelou Public Charter School (MAPCS), founded in 1998, offered “all disconnected youth in D.C.” a chance to “succeed,” according to the school network’s website. Now, with 74% of the student population considered at risk: See Forever Foundation manages: MAPCS, the Young Adult Learning Center, and three Maya Angelou Academies in secured settings such as New Beginnings, the Youth Service Center, and D.C. Jail.
All Angelou needed, like many of the local students at MAPCS, was a moment to focus on what was best for her life and career.
In 1959, Angelou met the novelist John Oliver Killens who encouraged her to move to New York to focus on her writing career. Her life would eventually take a climactic turn for the best when she joined the Harlem Writers Guild, rubbing shoulders with notable African American authors, and eventually becoming published for the first time.
A multitalented writer and performer, Maya Angelou made literary history as the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman with her 1969 memoir, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” She read her poem “On the Pulse of Morning” at the first presidential inauguration for Bill Clinton in 1993, staking her claim to notoriety and literary fame both nationally and internationally.
Today, Maya Angelou, who died at the age of 86, is one of the most honored and celebrated writers of her era, leaving a timeless collection of work.