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She was born Marguerite Anne Johnson on April 4, 1928, in St. Louis, Missouri. Her brother gave her the name Mya Sister when he was too young to pronounce her name and it stuck.  Eventually, she was best known as Maya. When Angelou was three years old, her parents divorced and sent their children to live in the rural, segregated town of Stamps, Arkansas, with their paternal grandmother, Annie Henderson. During their teens, they lived with their mother, Vivian Baxter, in California. 

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Angelou became a civil-rights activist when she was just fifteen. She battled racism with and succeeded in becoming the first African American streetcar conductor in San Francisco. She is best known for her autobiographical story, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings. It was her first, and remains her most critically praised work. Her latest book is titled Letter to My Daughter.

See our book review on I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings.

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