How did Maya Angelou become famous?
Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. During her childhood, Maya was shuffled back and forth between her mother and grandmother following the divorce of her parents. Her life experience begins there and with the rape she suffered at the hands of her mother’s boyfriend at the age of 8.ActressMaya Angelou began her career singing in nightclubs. In 1954 and 1955, she toured Europe and Africa as an actress in the musical “Porgy and Bess.”WriterMaya moved to New York in 1958, where she began honing her skills as a writer and joined the Harlem Writers Guild. She edited local literary papers while living in Cairo and Ghana throughout the 1960s. Her first book, “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” was published in 1970.Civil RightsMaya got involved in civil rights activism in 1959. Martin Luther King Jr.
