On April 4, 1928, Marguerite Annie Johnson was born to parents Bailey and Vivian Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri; Angelou was nicknamed “Maya” by her older brother Bailey Jr. As a three-year-old Maya and Bailey Jr moved to Stamps, Arkansas to live with their grandmother because their parents divorced. Their grandmother’s financial situation was more favorable than their parents because she owned a general store and could provide them with what they needed.
An eight-year-old Angelou was raped by her mother’s boyfriend while visiting her mother in St. Louis, Missouri and was later required to testify against the man that raped her. As a result, a number of her uncles caught the man and beat him to death. Too young to fully understand why the man was beaten to death, young Angelou felt his death was her fault and did not speak a word for five years. During her high school years, she would attend schools in both Arkansas and California before she dropped out to become the first black woman streetcar conductor in San Francisco, California. She eventually re-enrolled into high school and graduated at the age of seventeen, three weeks later she gave birth to her only son.
Angelou would marry a Greek man named Tosh Angelos who was an electrician, once worked as a sailor and aspired to become a full-time musician. Angelou’s marriage to Tosh Angelos lasted only a few years before the couple divorced. Angelou would continue pursuing dance and even found herself a contemporary and dance student with the legendary Alvin Ailey. They grew a friendship that led to the two forming a dance pair called “Alvin & Rita†which performed for collegiate black Greek organizations. At the time Angelou lived in San Francisco, she remarried before moving to New York to study African dance under Pearl Primus, a notable Trinidadian dancer, a year later Angelou and her family moved back to San Francisco. Angelou was laying the foundation as a dancer and singer to one of the most extraordinary and influential careers a person could have.
In 1954, Angelou divorced her second husband but found work as a Calypso dancer and singer in the Purple Onion nightclub. Following a suggestion by the owners of the Purple Onion, Angelou created her stage name “Maya Angelou” to use as a performer rather than her birth name. The uniqueness of her name helped her stand out from the other performers she was competing with.
Angelou was a very talented performer and even earned a role in the opera Porgy and Bess which allowed her to travel the world. The opera appeared in twenty-two countries exposing Angelou to a plethora of opportunities her career could offer. While visiting the various countries Angelou had a goal of learning as many languages as she could, as a result, she learned a number of different languages and cultures. In 1957, she recorded her first album as a singer titled Miss Calypso, following her success as a calypso singer and dancer. Angelou was finding success early as a performer, she appeared in plays on Broadway and through other vehicles, one play she appeared in was the inspiration behind the 1957 film Calypso Heat Wave, Angelou was the composer of the songs she sang in the film. She also acted in the play Cabaret for Freedom which she co-wrote with a man named Godfrey Cambridge
