Label
Born April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, MO
Died May 28, 2014, in Winston-Salem, NC
Acclaimed writer, performer, and activist Maya Angelou published seven autobiographies throughout her lifetime. The first, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969), was nominated for a National Book Award and aired as a television movie in 1979. An artist of wide-ranging talents, she was nominated for a Tony award for acting and a Pulitzer Prize for poetry. She was the first Black woman director in Hollywood and wrote, produced, directed, and starred in productions for stage, film, and television. In 1981, she accepted a lifetime appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University.