MAYA ANGELOU (1928-2014)
Maya Angelou was born in 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. Angelou had a broad career as a singer, dancer, actress, composer, and Hollywood’s first female black director, but became most famous as a writer, editor, essayist, playwright, and poet.
As a civil rights activist, Angelou worked for Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X. She was also an educator and served on two presidential committees, for Gerald Ford in 1975 and for Jimmy Carter in 1977. In 2000, Angelou was awarded the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton. In 2010, she was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian honor in the U.S., by President Barack Obama.
In the late 1950’s Maya Angelou joined the Harlem Writer’s Guild. With the guidance of her friend, the novelist James Baldwin, she began work on the book that would become “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.” The book became the first nonfiction bestseller by a Black woman.
Some of Angelou’s most famous poems include Phenomenal Woman, Still I Rise, and On the Pulse of Morning, which she recited at President Bill Clinton’s inauguration in 1993.
In her work as a civil rights activist, she collaborated with Martin Luther King Jr.and Malcolm X, among others.
Maya Angelou died in 2014 at the age of 86.
Additional reading about Maya Angelou:
- Maya Angelou’s website
- An article about her life and work from Biography.com
- A write-up about Angelou’s life and work from Poetry.com
- About Maya Angelou from the National Women’s History Museum

Where to purchase this original art print:
To see more of the Trailblazing Women series, you can find it here. Or you can follow along in real time on Instagram.