1 00:00:00,120 --> 00:00:05,080 Speaker 1: This Day in History Class is a production of iHeartRadio. 2 00:00:05,640 --> 00:00:09,680 Speaker 1: Hello and Welcome to This Day in History Class, a 3 00:00:09,800 --> 00:00:12,800 Speaker 1: show that flips through the pages of history to deliver 4 00:00:12,960 --> 00:00:16,800 Speaker 1: old news in a new way. I'm Gabe Lucier, and 5 00:00:16,960 --> 00:00:21,960 Speaker 1: today we're celebrating the creativity and persistence of Maya Angelou, 6 00:00:22,239 --> 00:00:25,480 Speaker 1: a renowned Black author and poet who used her voice 7 00:00:25,520 --> 00:00:29,320 Speaker 1: to educate, uplift, and inspire others to do the same. 8 00:00:32,960 --> 00:00:37,040 Speaker 1: As a warning, today's episode includes discussion of sexual assault 9 00:00:37,080 --> 00:00:40,040 Speaker 1: on a minor and may be disturbing for some listeners. 10 00:00:41,560 --> 00:00:46,480 Speaker 1: The day was April fourth, nineteen twenty eight. Maya Angelou 11 00:00:46,720 --> 00:00:51,320 Speaker 1: was born Marguerite Johnson in Saint Louis, Missouri. She grew 12 00:00:51,400 --> 00:00:54,040 Speaker 1: up to have one of the most varied and downright 13 00:00:54,120 --> 00:01:04,600 Speaker 1: impressive careers in recent memory, receiving widespread acclaim as an author, poet, singer, dancer, playwright, journalist, producer, director, 14 00:01:04,880 --> 00:01:10,000 Speaker 1: and civil rights activist, just to name a few. Angelou's 15 00:01:10,080 --> 00:01:13,200 Speaker 1: many achievements are all the more significant in light of 16 00:01:13,240 --> 00:01:16,560 Speaker 1: the trauma she faced as a child. Her parents had 17 00:01:16,560 --> 00:01:19,280 Speaker 1: a tumultuous marriage, and when they split up when she 18 00:01:19,360 --> 00:01:22,679 Speaker 1: was three years old, Angelou and her older brother Bailey 19 00:01:22,920 --> 00:01:26,839 Speaker 1: were sent to live with their paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. 20 00:01:27,640 --> 00:01:30,600 Speaker 1: It was around that time that Angelou's brother gave her 21 00:01:30,640 --> 00:01:33,880 Speaker 1: the nickname Maya, based on his habit of calling her 22 00:01:34,120 --> 00:01:39,360 Speaker 1: Maya's sister. She and Bailey attended school in Stamps, but 23 00:01:39,440 --> 00:01:42,160 Speaker 1: they sometimes stayed at their mother's home in Saint Louis 24 00:01:42,280 --> 00:01:45,600 Speaker 1: on weekends or over the summer. It was on one 25 00:01:45,720 --> 00:01:48,760 Speaker 1: such visit, when she was around seven years old, that 26 00:01:48,840 --> 00:01:53,240 Speaker 1: Angelou was sexually abused by her mother's boyfriend. She told 27 00:01:53,240 --> 00:01:55,680 Speaker 1: her brother what had happened and was later called to 28 00:01:55,720 --> 00:01:59,800 Speaker 1: testify against the man in court, ultimately leading to his conviction. 29 00:02:00,760 --> 00:02:04,160 Speaker 1: In the end, he served only a single day in jail, 30 00:02:04,560 --> 00:02:08,400 Speaker 1: but four days after his release, he was mysteriously killed, 31 00:02:08,960 --> 00:02:15,320 Speaker 1: kicked to death, presumably by Angelou's uncles. Confused and traumatized, 32 00:02:15,560 --> 00:02:18,919 Speaker 1: the young girl blamed herself for the man's death. As 33 00:02:18,919 --> 00:02:23,680 Speaker 1: she later explained, I thought my voice killed him. I 34 00:02:23,800 --> 00:02:27,040 Speaker 1: killed that man because I told his name. And then 35 00:02:27,080 --> 00:02:30,160 Speaker 1: I thought I would never speak again because my voice 36 00:02:30,280 --> 00:02:35,959 Speaker 1: would kill anyone. Angelou fell silent for the next five years, 37 00:02:36,000 --> 00:02:38,520 Speaker 1: refusing to speak for fear of the power of her 38 00:02:38,560 --> 00:02:42,280 Speaker 1: own tongue. But she found her voice again through literature. 39 00:02:43,200 --> 00:02:46,280 Speaker 1: One of her middle school teachers, Missus birth of Flowers, 40 00:02:46,480 --> 00:02:50,399 Speaker 1: introduced her to the classic works of Charles Dickens, William Shakespeare, 41 00:02:50,480 --> 00:02:53,639 Speaker 1: and Edgar Allan Poe, as well as to contemporary Black 42 00:02:53,680 --> 00:02:57,280 Speaker 1: authors such as Langston Hughes, W. E. B. Du Boyce, 43 00:02:57,680 --> 00:03:01,480 Speaker 1: and Paul Lawrence Dunbar. It was through these authors that 44 00:03:01,520 --> 00:03:05,080 Speaker 1: Angelou realized the importance and power of the spoken word. 45 00:03:05,800 --> 00:03:08,839 Speaker 1: She began writing essays and poetry, and with the help 46 00:03:08,880 --> 00:03:12,000 Speaker 1: of Missus Flowers, she began to speak again and went 47 00:03:12,040 --> 00:03:15,240 Speaker 1: on to graduate at the top of her eighth grade class. 48 00:03:16,000 --> 00:03:20,400 Speaker 1: From this somber beginning, a vibrant, passionate young woman emerged. 49 00:03:21,040 --> 00:03:24,720 Speaker 1: At age fourteen, Angelou moved to Oakland, California, with her 50 00:03:24,720 --> 00:03:28,160 Speaker 1: mother and brother and began taking dance and drama courses 51 00:03:28,200 --> 00:03:32,080 Speaker 1: at the California Labor School. Two years later, she made 52 00:03:32,200 --> 00:03:34,920 Speaker 1: history for the first of many times in her life 53 00:03:35,160 --> 00:03:40,440 Speaker 1: by becoming San Francisco's first black female streetcar conductor. She 54 00:03:40,560 --> 00:03:42,760 Speaker 1: held the job for a few months to help her 55 00:03:42,800 --> 00:03:45,320 Speaker 1: family make ends meet, but then went back to high 56 00:03:45,360 --> 00:03:49,520 Speaker 1: school to finish out her senior year. Angelou graduated from 57 00:03:49,520 --> 00:03:52,520 Speaker 1: Mission high school in the summer of nineteen forty four, 58 00:03:52,960 --> 00:03:56,080 Speaker 1: and soon after she gave birth to her only child, 59 00:03:56,440 --> 00:03:59,960 Speaker 1: Guy Johnson. Her pregnancy was the result of a shit 60 00:04:00,040 --> 00:04:03,200 Speaker 1: short lived high school romance, and Angelou was left to 61 00:04:03,280 --> 00:04:07,320 Speaker 1: raise her son on her own at age sixteen. Over 62 00:04:07,360 --> 00:04:10,040 Speaker 1: the next few years, she worked a series of odd 63 00:04:10,120 --> 00:04:14,000 Speaker 1: jobs to support herself and her son. She became a waitress, 64 00:04:14,120 --> 00:04:17,400 Speaker 1: a fry cook, a mechanics assistant, and a sex worker, 65 00:04:17,600 --> 00:04:20,159 Speaker 1: but the job that was most in her wheelhouse was 66 00:04:20,200 --> 00:04:24,200 Speaker 1: performing in nightclubs as a singer and dancer. It was 67 00:04:24,279 --> 00:04:27,719 Speaker 1: during this period of struggle that Angelou met and married 68 00:04:27,760 --> 00:04:32,400 Speaker 1: a white electrician named Toash Angelos. She adopted a form 69 00:04:32,440 --> 00:04:35,320 Speaker 1: of his surname and kept it throughout her life, even 70 00:04:35,320 --> 00:04:38,720 Speaker 1: though the marriage itself ended in divorce in nineteen fifty two. 71 00:04:39,560 --> 00:04:43,280 Speaker 1: After their breakup, Angelou continued her study of dance in 72 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:46,240 Speaker 1: New York City and then returned to San Francisco to 73 00:04:46,279 --> 00:04:50,920 Speaker 1: sing at the Purple Onion Cabaret. Her performances attracted the 74 00:04:50,960 --> 00:04:53,960 Speaker 1: attention of talent scouts, and she was soon recruited as 75 00:04:54,000 --> 00:04:56,960 Speaker 1: a cast member of a touring production of Porgy and 76 00:04:57,040 --> 00:05:02,320 Speaker 1: Bess in English language opera by composer George Kershwin. The 77 00:05:02,360 --> 00:05:05,840 Speaker 1: international tour broadened her worldview in a way she never 78 00:05:05,880 --> 00:05:09,480 Speaker 1: thought possible, taking her to twenty two different countries in 79 00:05:09,520 --> 00:05:13,440 Speaker 1: Europe and Northern Africa over the span of just two years. 80 00:05:14,000 --> 00:05:18,080 Speaker 1: After the tour wrapped up, Angelou continued singing professionally and 81 00:05:18,160 --> 00:05:21,600 Speaker 1: even released a studio album of Calypso music in nineteen 82 00:05:21,680 --> 00:05:25,640 Speaker 1: fifty seven. Then in nineteen fifty nine, she moved to 83 00:05:25,680 --> 00:05:28,880 Speaker 1: New York City to focus on her writing and stage career. 84 00:05:29,920 --> 00:05:33,720 Speaker 1: Angelou joined the Harlem Writers Guild and also became active 85 00:05:33,760 --> 00:05:37,000 Speaker 1: in the civil rights movement. In nineteen sixty she met 86 00:05:37,040 --> 00:05:40,120 Speaker 1: with Martin Luther King Junior, and at his urging, she 87 00:05:40,200 --> 00:05:43,520 Speaker 1: helped found the Cabaret for Freedom to raise money for 88 00:05:43,600 --> 00:05:48,679 Speaker 1: the Southern Christian Leadership Conference. The following year, Angelou moved 89 00:05:48,720 --> 00:05:51,560 Speaker 1: to Egypt with her boyfriend and became an editor for 90 00:05:51,640 --> 00:05:55,040 Speaker 1: the Arab Observer, one of the very few English language 91 00:05:55,080 --> 00:05:58,640 Speaker 1: news outlets in the Middle East at that time. After 92 00:05:58,680 --> 00:06:02,400 Speaker 1: splitting from her boyfriend, Angelou and her son traveled to Ghana, 93 00:06:02,640 --> 00:06:05,159 Speaker 1: where she took a job at the African Review and 94 00:06:05,200 --> 00:06:09,120 Speaker 1: spent the next several years developing her writing style. When 95 00:06:09,160 --> 00:06:11,960 Speaker 1: she returned to the US in the late nineteen sixties, 96 00:06:12,120 --> 00:06:15,280 Speaker 1: she began working on what would ultimately become a seven 97 00:06:15,440 --> 00:06:20,599 Speaker 1: volume autobiography. In nineteen sixty nine, she published the first 98 00:06:20,640 --> 00:06:24,200 Speaker 1: in the series, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, 99 00:06:24,960 --> 00:06:28,280 Speaker 1: focusing on her early life. The poignant book chronicled the 100 00:06:28,400 --> 00:06:31,760 Speaker 1: childhood trauma she had endured and the personal strength she 101 00:06:31,800 --> 00:06:35,880 Speaker 1: had mustered to overcome it. The book made literary history 102 00:06:35,920 --> 00:06:38,920 Speaker 1: as the first non fiction bestseller by a Black woman, 103 00:06:39,240 --> 00:06:42,520 Speaker 1: and it was nominated for the National Book Award. It's 104 00:06:42,520 --> 00:06:45,720 Speaker 1: since been translated into more than a dozen languages and 105 00:06:45,760 --> 00:06:50,599 Speaker 1: has sold over a million copies worldwide. After the release 106 00:06:50,640 --> 00:06:53,720 Speaker 1: of I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, Angelou made 107 00:06:53,760 --> 00:06:56,599 Speaker 1: the jump to Hollywood and broke new ground yet again. 108 00:06:57,400 --> 00:07:00,440 Speaker 1: She penned the screenplay for the nineteen seventy two film 109 00:07:00,560 --> 00:07:04,960 Speaker 1: Georgia Georgia, becoming the first African American woman in history 110 00:07:05,120 --> 00:07:09,279 Speaker 1: to have a screenplay produced. Over the next two decades, 111 00:07:09,520 --> 00:07:14,120 Speaker 1: Angelou continued to release more volumes of her autobiographies, including 112 00:07:14,160 --> 00:07:17,480 Speaker 1: books about becoming a teenage mother, her world tour with 113 00:07:17,560 --> 00:07:21,400 Speaker 1: Porgy and Bess, and her travels in West Africa. She 114 00:07:21,480 --> 00:07:25,800 Speaker 1: also wrote numerous essay collections and poetry volumes during this time, 115 00:07:26,080 --> 00:07:29,640 Speaker 1: including the Pulitzer Prize nominated Just Give Me a Drink 116 00:07:29,680 --> 00:07:34,800 Speaker 1: of Water for I Die. Remarkably, Angelou somehow found the 117 00:07:34,880 --> 00:07:38,480 Speaker 1: time to take on new creative challenges as well. In 118 00:07:38,560 --> 00:07:41,920 Speaker 1: nineteen seventy seven, she showed off her acting skills in 119 00:07:41,920 --> 00:07:46,040 Speaker 1: the acclaimed TV mini series Roots, earning herself an Emmy 120 00:07:46,080 --> 00:07:50,120 Speaker 1: nomination in the process, and in nineteen eighty two she 121 00:07:50,160 --> 00:07:53,920 Speaker 1: began teaching a series of humanities courses at Wake Forest 122 00:07:54,040 --> 00:07:58,160 Speaker 1: University in North Carolina. Some of the subjects she tackled 123 00:07:58,280 --> 00:08:02,800 Speaker 1: included race, politics and literature, and African culture and its 124 00:08:02,840 --> 00:08:07,760 Speaker 1: impact on the US. Angelou never graduated college herself, but 125 00:08:07,880 --> 00:08:11,280 Speaker 1: during her storied career she was awarded more than fifty 126 00:08:11,400 --> 00:08:15,880 Speaker 1: honorary degrees. Never won. To rest on her laurels, she 127 00:08:15,960 --> 00:08:19,920 Speaker 1: remained just as active throughout the nineteen nineties. She continued 128 00:08:19,920 --> 00:08:24,280 Speaker 1: to publish autobiographies and poetry collections, but also expanded her 129 00:08:24,280 --> 00:08:29,160 Speaker 1: repertoire to include children's books and even cookbooks. In nineteen 130 00:08:29,240 --> 00:08:33,199 Speaker 1: ninety three, she helped revive the tradition of inaugural poems 131 00:08:33,400 --> 00:08:36,520 Speaker 1: when President Bill Clinton asked her to write and deliver 132 00:08:36,600 --> 00:08:40,640 Speaker 1: one for his first inauguration. That made her the first 133 00:08:40,720 --> 00:08:44,960 Speaker 1: poet to read at a US inauguration since nineteen sixty one, 134 00:08:45,360 --> 00:08:49,520 Speaker 1: when Robert Frost kicked off the practice. At JFK's inauguration, 135 00:08:50,679 --> 00:08:54,679 Speaker 1: the poem Angelou recited was called on the Pulse of Mourning. 136 00:08:55,240 --> 00:08:55,960 Speaker 1: Here's a clip. 137 00:08:57,360 --> 00:09:03,840 Speaker 2: History, despite its renting, cannot be unlived. But if faced 138 00:09:04,040 --> 00:09:08,199 Speaker 2: with courage, need not be lived again. Lift up your 139 00:09:08,240 --> 00:09:12,520 Speaker 2: eyes upon this day breaking for you give birth again 140 00:09:12,640 --> 00:09:17,520 Speaker 2: to the dream. Women, children, men. Take it into the 141 00:09:17,559 --> 00:09:20,960 Speaker 2: palms of your hands. Mold it into the shape of 142 00:09:21,000 --> 00:09:25,480 Speaker 2: your most private need. Sculpt it into the image of 143 00:09:25,520 --> 00:09:26,920 Speaker 2: your most public self. 144 00:09:28,600 --> 00:09:31,640 Speaker 1: Maya Angelou was in her mid sixties when she read 145 00:09:31,840 --> 00:09:35,920 Speaker 1: Clinton's inauguration, but she still had plenty more successes ahead 146 00:09:35,920 --> 00:09:39,080 Speaker 1: of her. In nineteen ninety five, she won a Grammy 147 00:09:39,160 --> 00:09:42,200 Speaker 1: for a spoken word album of her poetry, which included 148 00:09:42,240 --> 00:09:45,840 Speaker 1: On the Pulse of Mourning. Then in nineteen ninety eight, 149 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:49,920 Speaker 1: she made her directorial debut with the critically acclaimed film 150 00:09:50,160 --> 00:09:54,480 Speaker 1: Down in the Delta. Two years later, Angelou was awarded 151 00:09:54,520 --> 00:09:57,800 Speaker 1: the National Medal of Arts by President Bill Clinton, and 152 00:09:57,840 --> 00:10:01,400 Speaker 1: two years after that she won her second Grammy, again 153 00:10:01,559 --> 00:10:06,360 Speaker 1: for Best Spoken Word Album. The accolades continued well into 154 00:10:06,440 --> 00:10:10,839 Speaker 1: her eighties, culminating in twenty ten when President Barack Obama 155 00:10:11,000 --> 00:10:14,840 Speaker 1: awarded her the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest civilian 156 00:10:14,880 --> 00:10:18,600 Speaker 1: honor in the United States. It was a fitting capstone 157 00:10:18,600 --> 00:10:22,680 Speaker 1: to an extraordinary life and career, but Angelou still wasn't 158 00:10:22,679 --> 00:10:26,600 Speaker 1: done yet. In twenty thirteen, she published Mom and Me 159 00:10:27,080 --> 00:10:30,679 Speaker 1: and Mom, the seventh and final book in her multi 160 00:10:30,800 --> 00:10:36,760 Speaker 1: volume autobiography. One year later, on May twenty ninth, twenty fourteen, 161 00:10:37,240 --> 00:10:41,560 Speaker 1: Maya Angelou passed away in Winston Salem, North Carolina, at 162 00:10:41,600 --> 00:10:48,040 Speaker 1: the age of eighty six. I'm Gabe blues Yay, and 163 00:10:48,120 --> 00:10:51,520 Speaker 1: hopefully you now know a little more about history today 164 00:10:51,760 --> 00:10:54,560 Speaker 1: than you did yesterday. If you'd like to keep up 165 00:10:54,559 --> 00:10:57,320 Speaker 1: with the show, you can follow us on Twitter, Facebook, 166 00:10:57,360 --> 00:11:01,560 Speaker 1: and Instagram at TDI HC Show, and if you have 167 00:11:01,640 --> 00:11:04,520 Speaker 1: any comments or suggestions, feel free to send them my 168 00:11:04,600 --> 00:11:09,400 Speaker 1: way by writing to this day at iHeartMedia dot com. 169 00:11:09,400 --> 00:11:12,480 Speaker 1: Thanks to kazb Bias for producing the show, and thanks 170 00:11:12,480 --> 00:11:14,880 Speaker 1: to you for listening. I'll see you back here again 171 00:11:14,920 --> 00:11:20,800 Speaker 1: tomorrow for another day in History Class.