![]() ![]() If you’re in the very gutter, see where you are and admit it. If you happen to fall into that sort of experience, what you have to do is forgive yourself. In her interview with Linda Wolf, Angelou is quoted: She refers to these times as her dark times but she did not hide these and often talked about them so, as she often said, younger people know that she is not perfect and that it is okay to stray but also that one can always redeem oneself. Angelou also worked as a madam for lesbian prostitutes and, briefly, as a prostitute (Als n.p.). She also worked as a cook in a hamburger joint and at a Creole restaurant even though she did not know how to cook. Shortly after the birth of her son, she worked shake dancer in a nightclub, then as a paint stripper at a mechanic shop (Als n.p.). The jobs she took on were not always legitimate or respectable. Maya Angelou is no stranger to hard work as she jumped between jobs in her youth to support her son. Maya Angelou’s multitude of jobs started during this time as she needed to support her son. A year later, shortly after she graduated from high school, she gave birth to her son, Clyde (later on Guy Johnson) (I Know Why). She cites in her autobiography that her mother supported her in pursuing the position, and even advised her that she would have to work twice as hard. She was the first black female cable car conductor despite being refused an application. She got her first job-her supposed dream job at the time-as a cable car conductor in San Francisco at 16 ( Later on, she moved to San Francisco to study dance but dropped out shortly. Bertha Flowers, helped her speak again and introduced her to authors that inspired her to write-Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, Georgia Douglas Johnson, James Weldon Johnson, Frances Harper, Anne Spencer, Jessie Fauset (Īt 14, she and Bailey Jr. (Ĩ7).” Shortly after, Angelou and her brother were sent back to their grandmother’s where teacher family friend, Mrs. In her autobiography, she recalls “Just my breath, carrying my words out, might poison people and they’d curl up and die like the black fat slugs that only pretended. Because of this Angelou did not speak for almost five years. Shortly after his release, he was murdered. Freeman was found guilty but was jailed only for a day. She told her brother about it, who then told the family about it ( When she was 8, her mother’s boyfriend, a man named Freeman, sexually abused and raped Angelou. Angelou and her brother lived a good life with their grandmother since she, according to Angelou, was in a good financial position for owning a general store.Īt age 7, their father picked them up and brought them to their mother back in St. ![]() She had an older brother, Bailey Jr., who was the one to give him the nickname “Maya” from “my sister.” From age 3 to 7, Maya, and her brother, were sent to live with their paternal grandmother after their parents’ marriage ended. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St. Indeed, she is one of the most prolific and inspiring writers in the history of the US. ![]() , three collections of essays, seven autobiographies, hundreds of poems, as well as plays, movies, and television shows. ![]() Angelou went through a lot of ordeals in her life from poverty, rape, selective mutism, to working as a pimp, prostitute, performer, activist, to writer, but she did not let these stop her from producing works send out a positive message of hope. Her works of poetry and non-fiction are read worldwide and her contributions to the Civil Rights movement are valuable. Maya Angelou is one of the most influential black women writers in the world. ![]()
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