Maya Angelou was born on April 4, 1928 in St. Louis, Missouri. She was born under the name Marguerite Johnson, but her brother, Baily, renamed her Maya. Her parents, Baily and Vivian Baxter Johnson, got divorced when she was very young. Maya grew up in a very racist town. There were many problems in her life, in which she describes in her best selling autobiographical novel “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings”. At the age of 16, …showed first 75 words of 1560 total…

…showed last 75 words of 1560 total…Shortly after, she gave birth to a baby boy, who she named Clyde. When Maya wrote this novel, she had a lot on her mind about the hardships of her life. Between being hated for her color, raped, and abused for doing something wrong, Maya’s life was very complicated. Although all of this happened to her, she did not let it effect her life too much, and now she is a very successful writer.