Maya Angelou, born April 4, 1928 as Marguerite Johnson in St. Louis, was raised in segregated rural
Arkansas. She is a poet, historian, author, actress, playwright, civil-rights activist, producer and director.
She lectures throughout the US and abroad and is Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake
Forest University in North Carolina since 1981. She has published ten best selling books and numerous
magazine articles earning her Pulizer Prize and National Book Award nominations. At the request of
President Clinton, she wrote and delivered a poem at his 1993 presidential inauguration.
Dr. Angelou, who speaks French, Spanish, Italian and West African Fanti, began her career in drama and
dance. She married a South African freedom fighter and lived in Cairo where she was editor of The Arab
Observer, the only English-language news weekly in the Middle East. In Ghana, she was feature editor of
The African Review and taught at the University of Ghana. In the 1960's, at the request of Dr. Martin
Luther King, Jr., Ms. Angelou became the northern coordinator for the Southern Christian Leadership
Conference. She was appointed by President Gerald Ford to the Bicentennial Commission and by
President Jimmy Carter to the National Commission on the Observance of International Women's Year.
In the film industry, through her work in script writing and directing, Maya Angelou has been a
groundbreaker for black women. In television, she has made hundreds of appearances. Her best-selling
autobiographical account of her youth, "I Know Why the Cage Bird Sings," won critical acclaim in 1970
and was a two hour TV special on CBS. She has written and produced several prize winning
documentaries, including "Afro-Americans in the Arts," a PBS special for which she received the Golden
Eagle Award. She was also nominated for an Emmy Award for her acting in Roots, and her screenplay
Georgia, Georgia was the first by a black woman to be filmed.
Maya Angelou is currently Reynolds Professor at Wake Forest University,
Winston-Salem, North Carolina.
One of Maya's Poems:
Phenomenal Women
Pretty women wonder where my secret lies.
I'm not cute or built to suit a fashion model's size
But when I start to tell them,
They think I'm telling lies.
I say,
It's in the reach of my arms
The span of my hips,
The stride of my step,
The curl of my lips.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
I walk into a room
Just as cool as you please,
And to a man,
The fellows stand or
Fall down on their knees.
Then they swarm around me,
A hive of honey bees.
I say,
It's the fire in my eyes,
And the flash of my teeth,
The swing in my waist,
And the joy in my feet.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Men themselves have wondered
What they see in me.
They try so much
But they can't touch
My inner mystery.
When I try to show them
They say they still can't see.
I say,
It's in the arch of my back,
The sun of my smile,
The ride of my breasts,
The grace of my style.
I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Now you understand
Just why my head's not bowed.
I don't shout or jump about
Or have to talk real loud.
When you see me passing
It ought to make you proud.
I say,
It's in the click of my heels,
The bend of my hair,
the palm of my hand,
The need of my care,
'Cause I'm a woman
Phenomenally.
Phenomenal woman,
That's me.
Visit This Great Site on Maya Angelou.
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