Jun 5, 2023
Some people are able to channel their hardships and the obstacles they face into art and activism. Maya Angelou’s life was not easy, but she was able to do both and more. Just press play to hear the whole story. ——
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Podcast Transcript: I’m
Cicely Hunter, Public Historian from the Missouri Historical
Society, and here’s history, on eighty-eight-one, KDHX. ———
Maya Angelou’s words, “Still I rise,” remains etched into the hearts and the minds of those who read her poetry. The daughter of Bailey Johnson and Vivian Baxter Johnson graced the world with her presence on April 4, 1928. Due to hardships within her parents’ marriage which led to a divorce, she moved to Stamps, Arkansas, with her paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson, at the age of 3 years old. She and her brother Bailey—who gave her the nickname “Maya”—continued to move back and forth between their grandmother and parents’ homes during their adolescent years. ———
Her career took off after receiving some training as a
professional dancer and singer. It was at this point in her life
that she changed her name to “Maya Angelou” in 1954. That same
year, she traveled to Europe and appeared in a production of Porgy
and Bess and learned to speak many languages. ———
Angelou returned to the United States and joined the Harlem
Writer’s Guild and produced songs, short stories, and poetry while
living in New York. She also became involved in the civil rights
movement and worked within the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. ———
Angelou published her first autobiography in 1969, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, and it was an instant success and appeared on the New York Times’s nonfiction bestseller’s list, was nominated as a National Book Award, and has since been translated to different languages. Since her first publications, Angelou has received many awards for other works she’s produced. ——-
On May 28, 2014, she passed away at the age of 86 years old. Among the many accolades Angelou has received, she will be a part of the American Women Quarters Program, which is a 4-year program that “celebrates the accomplishments and contributions made by women…” ———
Here’s history is a joint production of the Missouri Historical Society and KDHX. I’m Cicely Hunter and this is eighty-eight-one, KDHX, St. Louis. ———