April 4, 1928- Maya Angelou is born in St. Louis, Missouri. 1942- Angelou dropped out of school to become San Francisco’s first African-American female car conductor. 1954 through 1955- Angelou toured Europe with a production of the opera “Porgy and Bess.” 1957- Recorded her first album, “Calypso Lady.” 1958- Angelou moved to New York, where she joined the Harlem Writers Guild. She acted in Jean Genet’s Off-Broadway production, “The Blacks,” and performed “Cabaret for Freedom.” 1960- Angelo moved to Cairo, Egypt where she served as editor of the English language weekly The Arab Observer. 1961- She moved to Ghana, where she taught at the University of Ghana’s School of Music and Drama. She worked as a feature editor for The African Review and wrote for The Ghanaian Times. 1964- Returned to America to help Malcolm X build his new organization of African American Unity. 1970- Published “I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings,” also received the Chubb Fellowship from Yale University. Angelou has received over 50 honorary degrees. 1972- Film “Georgia, Georgia” came out. Angelou wrote the screenplay and composed the score. Her script was the first ever written by an African American woman to be filmed, and was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. 1977- Appeared in the television adaptation of Alex Haley’s “Roots.” 1982- Joined the faculty at Wake Forest University as a Professor of American Studies. 1993- Appeared in John Singleton’s Poetic Justice. Won Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Album for “On the Pulse of Morning.” 1995- Won Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Or Non-Musical Album for “Phenomenal Woman.” 1996- Directed her first feature film, Down in the Delta. 2000- Awarded the Presidential Medal of arts. 2002- Won Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album with “A Song Flung Up To Heaven.” 2008- Composed poetry for and narrated the award-winning documentary The Black Candle, directed by M.K. Asante. Also awarded the Lincoln Medal. 2011- Received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama at the White House. May 23, 2014 – Angelou sent her last tweet: “Listen to yourself and in that quietude you might hear the voice of God.” May 28, 2014- Maya Angelou passes away in her Winston Salem home.
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