Maya Angelou was an American poet, memoirist, and actress. Her first autobiography was inspired by her traumatic experience as a young child when her mother’s boyfriend raped her. The project titled, I Know Why the Caged Bird Singswas released in 1969 and the movie premiered in 1979. Her book earned a Nation Book Award nomination. Following those projects, Maya toured 22 countries in Europe and Africa as part of a State Department-sponsored production of George Gershwin’s folk opera Porgy and Bess.
In the year 1966, she broke Black, Blues, Black (aired in 1968), it was a ten-part television series that focused on the role of African culture in American life. Maya Angelou is the first African American woman to have a screenplay produced as a feature film. Her role in Look Away (1973) earned her a Tony Award nomination.
She later became a professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.
At the inauguration of Bill Clinton, Angelou performed the poem, “On Pulse of Morning.”
In 2011, she received the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
Maya Angelou passed away on May 28th, 2014.
Information obtained from Britannica
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