Angelou, Maya (1928- )

US writer and black activist. She became noted for her powerful autobiographical works, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1970) and its five sequels up to A Song Flung Up to Heaven (2002). Based on her traumatic childhood, they tell of the struggles towards physical and spiritual liberation of a black woman from growing up in the US South to emigrating to Ghana.

Angelou was born in St Louis, Missouri. The name Maya originated with her elder brother who called her ‘My’ or ‘Mine’. After her parents' divorce Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother. She wanted to become a professional dancer and had a featured role in a stage production, Porgy and Bess. She also edited magazines, and after the success of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, wrote for television, seeing many of her works turned into films. Her work reached its largest single audience in January 1993 when she recited her poem ‘On the Pulse of Morning’ at the inauguration of US president Bill Clinton.

In 2002, Angelou gave her name to a minority health research center at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, where she is a professor.