Maya Angelou was born under the name Marguerita Johnson in St. Louis, Missouri on April 4, 1928. She was raised mostly by her grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. Her childhood experiences, which included rape at eight years old and a period of muteness, inspired her famous work, "I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings", which was written in 1970. She is best known for her autobiographical books: All God's Children Need Traveling Shoes (1986), The Heart of a Woman (1981), Singin' …showed first 75 words of 543 total…

…showed last 75 words of 543 total…has been appointed to a lifetime position. Maya Angelou, with her soft spoken words and themes of courage and self-acceptance, is hailed as one of the great voices of contemporary literature. With her ability to break the bonds of race and class discrimination, Angelou has reached out to all of her readers, male and female, black and white, and showed them how to acknowledge others, not because of skin color, but for the person beneath.