Maya Angelou, born Marguerite Johnson is an author, poet, historian, conductor, actor, singer, songwriter, playwright, film director, and civil rights activist. She was born in a segregated rural area of St. Louis, Arkansas, and she came from a broken home. The author’s father, Bailey Johnson, was a naval dietician, and her mother was Vivian Johnson. She has one sibling, a brother named Bailey after their father. When she was about three years old their …showed first 75 words of 1412 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1412 total…and countless magazine articles, and in 1993 she wrote and delivered the presidential inauguration for President Bill Clinton. Currently Angelou lectures throughout the United States and abroad and recently has been named a Reynolds professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University in North Carolina. Through her writing as well as her activism toward the cause of improving conditions for women in Third World countries (particularly Africa), Angelou continues to spread her word and poetic justice.