She soon joined the prestigious Harlem Writers Guild, which was a hub for African American authors and thinkers at the time. In 1959, Angelou moved with her son to New York City to pursue a career in writing. She quickly became fluent in six languages - Spanish, French, Italian, Arabic (from her time as a reporter in Egypt), Fanti (a language spoken in West Africa), and her native English. The author loved learning new languages, and set a goal of learning a bit of the language of each country she visited.
#MAYA ANGELOU PROFESSIONAL#
Despite their divorce, Angelou decided to keep her first husband’s last name.Īccording to the Greek tradition, which is not widely practiced today, wives would take the possessive form of their husband’s last name upon marriage thus “Angelos” became “Angelou.”Īfter her divorce, Angelou became a professional dancer, singer, and actor, and was able to tour Europe with a production of the opera “Porgy and Bess.” The poet’s mother did not approve of the interracial relationship, and the couple had major spiritual differences - Angelos was an staunch atheist, while Angelou was devoutly religious.ĭespite these factors, the couple stayed married for three years, until they eventually divorced in 1954. The two married in 1951, just three years after interracial marriage became legal in the state. It was in California that Angelou met Greek-American Anastasios “Tosh” Angelos, an electrician, former sailor, and musician. Maya Angelou married man of Greek descent One year later, she gave birth to her son, Guy Johnson. That same teacher, named Bertha Flowers, introduced Angelou to the works of William Shakespeare, Edgar Allan Poe, and Charles Dickens, all of whom were large influences on Angelou’s work.Īs a teenager, Angelou moved with her mother and her brother to California, where she became the first black female streetcar conductor in San Francisco at the age of 16. It was only when a teacher challenged the young poet, stating “You do not love poetry, not until you speak it,” that she began to speak again.
And then I thought I would never speak again, because my voice would kill anyone.”ĭuring her long period of silence, Angelou found solace in books and poetry, and gained a keen ability to analyze and observe the world around her. She later stated that she became mute because she believed that her words alone killed the man: “I thought, my voice killed him I killed that man, because I told his name.
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