MAYA ANGELOUPoet and Activist Heroine

1928-2014

Education Maya Angelou attended California Labor

School and George Washington High School

Dropped out of school at the age of 14 soon after

Studied dance with Martha Graham and danced with Alvin Ailey on television reality shows

Earned over fifty honorary degrees for her works at various colleges

Life Lived in Stamps, Arkansas as a child and

experienced brutal discrimination She loved the art of dance and earned a

scholarship to San Francisco Labor School, where she dropped out, and rejoined to earn a diploma, soon after she had her child

In 1954 and 1955, she traveled to Europe with her opera, Porgy and Bess

In 1957, she recorded her first album, Calypso Lady

Early Adulthood In 1958, Maya moved to New York to join

the Harlem Writer’s Guild She later acted in the famous Off-

Broadway production, The Blacks Soon after she continued to write and

perform in her own production, Cabaret for Freedom

In 1960, she moved to Cairo, Egypt, and found work on the English portion of The Arab Reporter

The next year, Maya moved to Ghana

Life in Africa She found work at the University of

Ghana, and as the editor of The African Review, and as a writer for The Ghanian Times

While living in Ghana, Maya met Malcolm X

She moved back to the U.S. in 1964, to help X found his Organization of African American Unity

Soon after she arrived in the U.S., Malcolm X had been assassinated

She then met Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.

Inspiration Dr. MLK had swiftly asked her to serve as

Northern Coordinator for his Southern Christian Leadership Conference

On April 4, 1968, Angelou’s birthday, King was assassinated, leaving Angelou completely shocked

The assassination of King had sparked her want to write poetry about the struggles of the African American community

With the help of James Baldwin, she published her first piece of poetry, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings

Film Life Maya continued her life in the arts with

film making and acting She made appearances on the trail-

blazing television adaptation of Alex Haley’s Roots in 1977

She was also in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice

In 2008, Maya Angelou starred in M.K. Asante’s The Black Candle, and composed poetry for it

Political Life Maya served on two presidential

committees in her life In 2000, Angelou won the Presidential

Medal of the Arts In 2008, she won the Ford’s Theatre

Lincoln Medal, a medal for leaving a lasting legacy on America, similar to President Lincoln himself

She is nowadays known as Dr. Maya Angelou, due to her outstanding academic career, and art career

Poetical Life Maya Angelou lived a long, rich, and

beautiful, yet unfortunate and macabre life, which is what inspired her to write her artistic poetry

Maya’s main theme in poetry was the living and loving of life and the fight against racial discrimination

She also has many cook books, and books on her life as a dancer and actress

Harlem Hopscotch A poem that discusses the hardships of living

in the slums of New York, in Harlem “Good things for the ones that’s got” In lines one through four, the poem tells that

that in Harlem, work is a complex thing for Blacks, and that even children are aware of the harsh conditions, thud playing hopscotch to find good times in the environment they live in, and they are constantly looking out for their own well-being

“Everybody for hisself”

Harlem Hopscotch In lines five through eight, Angelou is stating

that despite there being almost nothing for the blacks, they must keep pushing on, because that is what they do to survive in the harsh world thy were put into

“Since you black, don’t stick around” Lines nine through twelve state that people

can only wait for work, and that if they do anything very good, they aren’t rewarded, but if they do slightly bad, they get overly punished

Harlem Hopscotch The closing couplet of this poem is a

statement that shows that all of the hopping in her hopscotch game may have ended up not helping her, but the effort that she put into it turns her into a winner, so it is a theme that states that you may do a lot and never be rewarded with what you need, but if you put any effort into your life, you are happy with what the effort you put into it, you had a good life

References  "Harlem Hopscotch." Poetry for Students.

Ed. Marie Rose Napierkowski and Mary Ruby. Vol. 2. Detroit: Gale, 1998. 92-101. Gale Virtual Reference Library. Web. 30 May 2014.

"Maya Angelou - Biography." Maya Angelou - Biography. Hart+Vine, 2014. Web. 01 June 2014.