Growing up in such a hard time such as the Great Depression must be rough. But be black and a women at the time could only make things worse. Well this was the early life of Maya Angelou. She went through rough times as a child and as a writer to be what she has become today, which is a role model to all little girls that are inspiring to be a writer. Because of all the hardships she went through and still became what she dreamed to be I admire her for this.
To start off let me tell you a little about her child life. Maya Angelou was born Marguerite Annie Johnson in St Louis. She was born on April 4th, 1928. Her father was Bailey Johnson and her mother was Vivian Baxter Johnson. When she was only three years old her parents got a divorce, and she went to go live with her grandmother in Arkansas. In Arkansas Maya went through a lot such as racial discrimination. It was a lot different from her home town up north then from the small town of Stamps, Arkansas. But also when don’t in Arkansas she experienced traditional African American life. At age seven she moved back in with her mom in Chicago. While she was there she was sexually molested by her mother’s boyfriend. She was too ashamed to tell any adult about it she told the news to her brother. The word got out and soon her uncle killed her attacker. After she found out her words led to the death of a man she decided not to speak ever again. Until five years later when she was living back with her grand mom in Arkansas. Her teacher Beulah Flowers encouraged her to talk again, she also got Maya into literature.
Maya Angelou has made a wide variety of books and poems. One of her most famous books is called “Why the Cage Bird Sings.” This is a book all about her childhood. It covers her first eight-teen years of life. Another one of her books is Mother A Cradle to Hold Me. This book is about how a child needs the love and affection only a mother can give. One of the books you can get that will have most of her most liked poems would be The Complete Collected Poems of Maya Angelou. Now there was a controversial poem on the internet called “Clothes”. There was a rumor spread that Maya Angelou wrote this poem. The poem stated such clothing lines as FUBU, Ecko, and timberland were racist. Maya Angelou said that she was no way connected to this poem and that she never wrote it.
Being sexual assaulted, mute for five years, and yet she has been able to be such a courageous person. Not only to have gone through those things but being able to make it through them and do all she has done is just unbelievable. She has been a very successful person and had been able to help a lot of people out with her stories and he poems. This is why I highly regard her as not only as a writer but as a person. She is living proof that no matter what we go through we can become the best we can be.
From the start of her life things look bad and as her life went on things seemed just to get worst. Unlike most people who just deiced to give up trying Maya Angelou tried to make the best of things. As her writing career started it never really stopped. She always looked on the bright side of things and tried to keep going. With her stories she has touched so many people’s lives. I now know why Oprah Winfrey looks up to her as a role model.
