My Heroes: ( 15 ) Maya Angelou

Born: Marguerite Johnson, 1928, St. Louis, Missouri

Dr. Maya Angelou is 'Renaissance Woman', being a poet, playwriter, author, director, producer and Civil Rights activist and my personal suspicion is that America in general, does not give her due recognition. She is, naturally, an icon to the African-American cummunity but she deserves recognition beyond that. She has been bestowed with scores of honourary degrees. My own favourite work is one of several auto-biographies, 'I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings' and I recommend it as an introduction to her work. She grew up in a rural southern town that was so segregated that she wasn't sure that white people actually existed! The book is an extremely frank account of her early life and can be seen as a useful parallel to 'To Kill a Mockingbird'. A persistent motif throughout the book is that of strong black women who resist rascism in their lives.

Incidentally, she acquired her name Maya from her older brother who could not pronounce Marguerite and called her 'Mya Sister'. As an adult she chose to be called Maya.