Maya angelou biography for 2nd graders

Angelou was an adventurous spirit and lived abroad in Cairo, Egypt and Ghana. She was friends with another civil rights activist, Malcolm X. The Organization of Afro-American Unity was set up with six objectives. The organization sought to establish new businesses, empower youth, demand justice and establish better trading and communication between Africa and the USA.

Angelou also worked with Martin Luther King Jr. Angelou was a talented writer. In the yearshe is featured on American Quarters. Angelou was the second person to ever read poetry at the presidential inauguration. The first person was Robert Frost. When Angelou was three, her parents' marriage ended, and her father sent her and her siblings to Stamps, Arkansasalone by train, to live with their paternal grandmother Annie Henderson.

Henderson's general store had done well during the Great Depression and World War IIand she "made wise and honest investments. Four years later, the children's father returned them to their mother's care in St. At the age of 8, Angelou suffered a phsycological trauma and became mute for about 5 years. She and her brother were sent back to their grandmother.

A teacher and friend of her family, Mrs. These authors would affect her life and career as well as other black female artists like Frances HarperAnne Spencerand Jessie Fauset. Angelou said that Flowers helped her speak again. When Angelou was 14, she and her brother moved in with their mother once again, who had since moved to Oakland, California.

Before graduating, she worked as the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco. Before becoming a poet and writer, Angelou tried other occupations as a young adult.

Maya angelou biography for 2nd graders: Maya Angelou was a US writer,

Maya worked as a fry cook, a dancer and performer, a cast member of the opera Porgy and Besscoordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership Conferenceand a journalist in Egypt and Ghana during the days of decolonization. She was an actor, writer, director, and producer of plays, movies, and public television programs. From that point on, she considered herself "a teacher who writes".

Angelou taught a variety of subjects that reflected her interests, including philosophy, ethics, theology, science, theater, and writing. During the s, she made approximately eighty appearances a year as a lecturersomething she continued into her eighties. She was the first poet to make an inaugural recitation since Robert Frost at John F. She loved her older brother very much.

Louis, Missouri. Louis had a big library and Maya spent her free time checking out books and reading them at the library. This horrible experience caused her to stop talking.

Maya angelou biography for 2nd graders: Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Ann Johnson

No one knew what to do. Instead, she spent most of her time reading and writing. She and Bailey were now 13 and 14 and enjoyed the new city with the amazing Golden Gate Bridge and the cable cars. Maya liked her new school and did well there. She spent her free time writing poems and her own stories. She also started taking singing and dancing lessons.

Maya angelou biography for 2nd graders: Maya was a talented dancer, singer,

But Bailey had a harder time in San Francisco and often got into trouble and ran away from home. Maya missed Bailey and this caused her to struggle in school. She decided to take a break and look for a job. In San Francisco, people used cable cars on tracks to move all around the city. She ended up becoming the first African American cable conductor!

After a semester of working, she decided to back to school. She also learned that Bailey joined the Navy and they wrote letters back and forth. She was happy to hear from her brother again. Induring her last year of high school, Maya had her first baby and named him Clyde Bailey after her brother. For the next several years she worked as a waitress to earn enough money to take care of Clyde.

She also worked at a music store and later as a Calypso dancer at a club called The Purple Onion. There she sang and danced for the audience.