The works of Maya Angelou encompass autobiography, plays, poetry, and teleplays. She also had an active directing, acting, and speaking career. She is best known for her books, including her series of seven autobiographies, starting with the critically acclaimed I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969).
All my work, my life, everything I do is about survival, not just bare, awful, plodding survival, but survival with grace and faith. While one may encounter many defeats, one must not be defeated.
Maya Angelou[1]
Angelou's autobiographies are distinct in style and narration, and "stretch over time and place",[2] from Arkansas to Africa and back to the US. They take place from the beginnings of World War II to the assassination of Martin Luther King Jr.[2] Angelou wrote collections of essays, including Wouldn't Take Nothing for My Journey Now (1993) and Even the Stars Look Lonesome(1997), which writer Hilton Als called her "wisdom books" and "homilies strung together with autobiographical texts".[3] Angelou used the same editor throughout her writing career, Robert Loomis, an executive editor at Random House, until he retired in 2011.[4] Angelou said regarding Loomis: "We have a relationship that's kind of famous among publishers."[5]
She was one of the most honored writers of her generation, earning an extended list of honors and awards, as well as more than 30 honorary degrees.[6] She was a prolific writer of poetry; her volume Just Give Me a Cool Drink of Water 'fore I Diiie (1971) was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize,[7] and she was chosen by President Bill Clinton to recite her poem "On the Pulse of Morning" during his inauguration in 1993.[8]
Angelou's successful acting career included roles in numerous plays, films, and television programs, such as in the television mini-series Roots in 1977. Her screenplay Georgia, Georgia (1972) was the first original film script by a black woman to be produced.[9][10] and she was the first African-American woman to direct a major motion picture, Down in the Delta, in 1998.[11] Since the 1990s, Angelou participated in the lecture circuit,[8] which she continued into her eighties.[12][13]
Literature
Unless otherwise stated, the items in this list are from Gillespie et al., pp. 186–191.
Autobiographies
Poetry
Personal essays
Cookbooks
Children's books
Plays
Cabaret for Freedom (musical revue), with Godfrey Cambridge, 1960
The Least of These, 1966
The Best of These (drama), 1966
Gettin' up Stayed on My Mind, 1967
Sophocles, Ajax (adaptation), 1974
And Still I Rise (writer/director), 1976
Moon on a Rainbow Shawl (director), 1978[25]
Film and television
Blacks, Blues, Black! (writer, producer and host – ten one-hour programs, National Education Television), 1968
Georgia, Georgia (writer for script and musical score), Sweden, 1972
All Day Long (writer/director), 1974
PBS documentaries (1975):
Who Cares About Kids & Kindred Spirits (KERA-TV, Dallas, Texas)
Maya Angelou: Rainbow in the Clouds (WTVS-TV, Detroit, Michigan)
To the Contrary (Maryland Public Television)
Tapestry and Circles
Assignment America (six one-half hour programs), 1975
Part One: The Legacy; Part Two: The Inheritors (writer and host), 1976
I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (writer for script and musical score), 1979
Sister, Sister (writer), 20th Century Fox Television, 1982
Brewster Place (writer), ABC, 1990
Down in the Delta (director), Miramax Films, 1998
The Black Candle (poetry, narration), Starz, 2012
Plays and films acted in (partial list)
Porgy and Bess, 1954–1955
Calypso, 1957
The Blacks, 1960
Mother Courage, 1964
Look Away, 1973
Roots, ABC, 1977
Runaway, Hallmark Hall of Fame Productions, 1993
Poetic Justice, 1993
Touched by an Angel ("Reunion"), CBS, 1995
How to Make an American Quilt, Universal Pictures, 1995
Madea's Family Reunion, Tyler Perry Studios, 2006
Recordings
Spoken-word albums
The Poetry of Maya Angelou, GWP Records, 1969
Women in Business, 1981
On the Pulse of Morning, Random House Audio, 1993[27]
A Song Flung Up to Heaven, Random House Audio, 2002[27]
Radio
References
^McPherson, Dolly A. (1990). Order Out of Chaos: The Autobiographical Works of Maya Angelou. New York: Peter Lang Publishing. pp. 10–11. ISBN .
^ abLupton, Mary Jane (1998). Maya Angelou: A Critical Companion. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. p. 1. ISBN .
^Als, Hilton (5 August 2002). "Songbird: Maya Angelou takes another look at herself". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on 7 July 2014. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
^Italie, Hillel (6 May 2011). "Robert Loomis, editor of Styron, Angelou, retires". The Washington Times. Associated Press. Archived from the original on 5 May 2019. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
^Tate, Claudia (1999). "Maya Angelou: An Interview". In Joanne M. Braxton (ed.). Maya Angelou's I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings: A Casebook. New York: Oxford Press. p. 155. ISBN .
^Moore, Lucinda (1 April 2003). "A Conversation with Maya Angelou at 75". Smithsonian. Archived from the original on 20 December 2013. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
^Gillespie et al, p. 103
^ abManegold, Catherine S. (20 January 1993). "An Afternoon with Maya Angelou; A Wordsmith at Her Inaugural Anvil". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 8 February 2020. Retrieved 2 October 2007.
^ abBrown, Avonie (4 January 1997). "Maya Angelou: The Phenomenal Woman Rises Again". New York Amsterdam News. Vol. 88, no. 1. p. 2.
^"Maya Angelou: A Brief Biography". African Overseas Union. Archived from the original on 12 October 2007. Retrieved 7 October 2007.
^Gillespie et al, p. 144
^Younge, Gary (25 May 2002). "No surrender". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 4 June 2008. Retrieved 1 January 2012.
^Gillespie et al, p. 9
^Maya Angelou (2010). I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. Random House Publishing Group. ISBN . Retrieved 17 May 2014.
^Maya Angelou (2012). The Collected Autobiographies of Maya Angelou (illustrated ed.). Random House Publishing Group. p. 175. ISBN . Retrieved 17 May 2014.
^Moyer, Homer E. (2003). The R.A.T. Real-World Aptitude Test: Preparing Yourself for Leaving Home. Sterling, Virginia: Capital Books. p. 297. ISBN .
^A poem from this collection, "My Life Has Turned to Blue", was made into the title track of Nancy Wilson's album, Turned to Blue, in 2006.
^ abWaldron, Clarence (25 December 2006). "Maya Angelou: On Christmas, Dave Chappelle and What Inspires Her". Jet. No. 110. p. 29. Archived from the original on 30 April 2024. Retrieved 4 October 2011.
^Angelou, Maya. "On the Pulse of Morning". Electronic Text Center, University of Virginia Library. Archived from the original on 11 February 2011. Retrieved 28 May 2007.
^Long, Richard (November 2005). "Maya Angelou". Smithsonian. Vol. 36, no. 8. p. 84.
^Vena, Jocelyn (7 July 2009). "Maya Angelou's Poem about Michael Jackson: 'We Had Him'". MTV. Archived from the original on 26 April 2010. Retrieved 11 July 2009.
^"Maya Angelou's Elegy For Michael Jackson". HuffPost. 12 August 2009. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 21 June 2023.
^Eby, Margaret (12 December 2013). "Maya Angelou pens poem for Nelson Mandela: 'His Day is Done'".Archived 17 August 2016 at the Wayback MachineNew York Daily News. Retrieved 16 February 2014.
^"Woman Work by Maya Angelou". Poem Hunter. 3 January 2003. Retrieved 9 January 2025.
^Wolf, Matt (12 March 2014). "The National Theatre's Global Flair". The New York Times. Archived from the original on 26 July 2020. Retrieved 2 September 2014.
^ abcLetkemann, Jessica (28 May 2014). "Maya Angelou's Life in Music: Ashford & Simpson Collab, Calypso Album & More". Billboard. Archived from the original on 13 September 2014. Retrieved 16 November 2014.
^ abMaughan, Shannon (3 March 2003). "Grammy Gold". Publishers Weekly. Vol. 250, no. 9. p. 38.
^Waggoner, Martha (13 September 2006). "Maya Angelou to Host Show on XM Radio". Fox News. Archived from the original on 15 December 2018. Retrieved 28 September 2007.
Works cited
Gillespie, Marcia Ann, Rosa Johnson Butler, and Richard A. Long. (2008). Maya Angelou: A Glorious Celebration. New York: Random House. ISBN 978-0-385-51108-7