This, eventually, led to the nickname “Maya”. While we’ll delve a bit more into the author’s chosen name later, the first part of it is all thanks to Bailey, who couldn’t quite pronounce his sister’s name as a child, instead referring to her as “My sister”. In the wake of her parents’ divorce, Angelou’s grandmother, and her extended family, shaped a young Angelou and her values. Louis, Missouri, Maya Angelou - and her brother, Bailey - spent the majority of her childhood with her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Maya Angelou’s Early Yearsīorn Marguerite Johnson on Apin St. In celebration of that life, we’re revisiting the achievements of a truly phenomenal woman. Needless to say, Angelou led a singular life. Martin Luther King Jr., and, while writing I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, she was supported by her friend and mentor, James Baldwin. As an activist, she worked alongside Malcolm X and Dr.
She was also a composer, performer, singer and Hollywood’s first Black woman director. Angelou also began her pro-Castro and anti-apartheid activism during this time.While her gifts with storytelling and language have forever cemented her place in American culture - and the canon of literature at large - Angelou’s remarkable legacy extends beyond the page. Hagen, her contributions to civil rights as a fundraiser and SCLC organizer were successful and "eminently effective". speak in 1960, she and Killens organized "the legendary" Cabaret for Freedom to benefit the Southern Christian Leadership Conference (SCLC), and she was named SCLC's Northern Coordinator. After meeting and hearing civil rights leader Dr. She joined the Harlem Writers Guild, where she met several major African-American authors and was published for the first time. Killens in 1959, and at his urging, moved to New York to concentrate on her writing career. She appeared in an off-Broadway review that inspired the film Calypso Heat Wave, in which Angelou sang and performed her own compositions.Īngelou met novelist James O. In 1957, riding on the popularity of calypso, Angelou recorded her first album, Miss Calypso, which was reissued as a CD in 1996. She began her practice of trying to learn the language of every country she visited, and in a few years she gained proficiency in several languages. During 19 Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera Porgy and Bess.
#Tosh angelos professional#
Angelou and Ailey formed a dance team, calling themselves "Al and Rita", and performed Modern Dance at fraternal Black organizations throughout San Francisco, but never became successful. Angelou, her new husband, and son moved to New York City so that she could study African dance with Trinidadian dancer Pearl Primus, but they returned to San Francisco a year later.Īfter Angelou's marriage ended in 1954, she danced professionally in clubs around San Francisco, including the nightclub The Purple Onion, where she sang and danced calypso music. Up to that point she went by the name of "Marguerite Johnson", or "Rita", but at the strong suggestion of her managers and supporters at The Purple Onion she changed her professional name to "Maya Angelou", a "distinctive name" that set her apart and captured the feel of her Calypso dance performances.
In 1951, Angelou married Greek electrician, former sailor, and aspiring musician Enistasious (Tosh) Angelos, despite the condemnation of interracial relationships at the time and the disapproval of her mother. She took modern dance classes during this time, and met dancers and choreographers Alvin Ailey and Ruth Beckford.
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