Awesome Women Library
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  • Home
  • What is an Awesome Woman?
  • Activists & Community Builders
    • Oyinkan Abayomi
    • Jane Addams
    • Fatima al-Fihri
    • Jessie Daniel Ames
    • Susan B. Anthony
    • Inessa Armand
    • Ella Baker
    • Nellie Bly
    • Lady Bird Johnson
    • Anne Carroll Moore
    • Rosa Parks
    • Alice Paul
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • Ghenia Avril de Sainte-Croix
    • Sophie Scholl
    • Doria Shafik
    • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
    • Sojourner Truth
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Ida B. Wells
    • Malala Yousafzai
  • Authors & Visual Artists
    • Etel Adnan
    • Ama Ata Aidoo
    • Anna Akhmatova
    • Louisa May Alcott
    • Isabel Allende
    • Maya Angelou
    • Sofonisba Anguissola
    • Jane Austen
    • Hildegard von Bingen
    • Mary Blair
    • Margaret Bourke-White
    • Gwendolyn Brooks
    • Octavia Butler
    • Julia Margaret Cameron
    • Judy Chicago
    • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
    • Marjory Stoneman Douglas
    • Artemisia Gentileschi
    • Maija Isola
    • Lois Mailou Jones
    • Frida Kahlo
    • Yayoi Kusama
    • Dorothea Lange
    • Edmonia Lewis
    • Julia Morgan
    • Toni Morrison
    • Marianne North
    • Sappho
    • Harriet Beecher Stowe
    • Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
  • Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
    • Mary Kay Ash
    • Olive Ann Beech
    • Polly Bemis
    • Marguerite Boucicaut
    • Juana Briones
    • Clara Brown
    • Nellie Cashman
    • Nicole-Barbe Clicquot
    • Ellen Demorest
    • Katharine Graham
    • Hetty Green
    • Isabella Greenway
    • Ruth Handler
    • Annie Turnbo Malone
    • Charley Parkhurst
    • Eliza Pinckney
    • Lydia Pinkham
    • Mary Ellen Pleasant
    • Muriel Siebert
    • Ruth Wakefield
    • Madam C J Walker
    • Maggie Lena Walker
    • Marie Webster
    • Oprah Winfrey
  • Civil Servants, World Leaders, & Warriors
    • Corazon Aquino
    • Queen Yaa Asantewaa
    • Mavis Batey
    • Empress Taytu Betul
    • Boudicca
    • Mary Bowser
    • Charlotte Hawkins Brown
    • Gro Harlem Brundtland
    • Empress Catherine II of Russia
    • Shirley Chisholm
    • Pharaoh Cleopatra VII
    • Sarah Emma Edmonds
    • Queen Elizabeth I of England
    • Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    • Noor Inayat Khan
    • Belva Lockwood
    • Sandra Day O'Connor
    • Trung Sisters
  • Computer Scientists & Mathematicians
    • Maria Agnesi
    • Jean Bartik
    • Kimberly Bryant
    • Annie Easley
    • Sophie Germain
    • Margaret Hamilton
    • Grace Hopper
    • Hypatia
    • Katherine Johnson
    • Sofya Kovalevskaya
    • Ada Lovelace
    • Maryam Mirzakhani
    • Emmy Noether
    • Ruchi Sanghvi
    • Dorothy Vaughan
  • Doctors, Nurses, & Medical Researchers
    • Virginia Apgar
    • Sara Josephine Baker
    • Alice Ball
    • Clara Barton
    • Patricia Bath
    • Elizabeth Blackwell
    • Louyse Bourgeoise Boursier
    • Rachel Brown
    • Mamie Phipps Clark
    • Gertrude Belle Elion
    • Marie Equi
    • Elizabeth Hazen
    • Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
    • Mae Jemison
    • Anandibai Joshee
    • Florence Nightingale
    • Ogino Ginko
    • Mary Seacole
    • Rosalyn Yalow
  • Engineers, Inventors, & Scientists
    • Mary Anning
    • Marie d'Arconville
    • Hertha Ayrton
    • Florence Bascom
    • Laura Bassi
    • Katharine Burr Blodgett
    • Annie Jump Cannon
    • Rachel Carson
    • Emilie du Chatelet
    • Martha Coston
    • Marie Curie
    • Sylvia Earle
    • Dian Fossey
    • Rosalind Franklin
    • Lillian Gilbreth
    • Jane Goodall
    • Catharine Littlefield Greene
    • Mary Jackson
    • Shirley Ann Jackson
    • Margaret E. Knight
    • Stephanie Kwolek
    • Hedy Lamarr
    • Mary Leakey
    • Wangari Maathai
    • Lise Meitner
    • Maria Sibylla Merian
    • Ynes Mexia
    • Maria Mitchell
    • Mary Sherman Morgan
    • Ellen Ochoa
    • Sally Ride
    • Stephanie Schwabe
    • Donna Shirley
    • Kathryn Sullivan
    • Wang Zhenyi
    • Peggy Whitson
    • Wu Chien-Shiung
  • Exploration & Sports
    • Nicola Adams
    • Laila Ali
    • Ann Bancroft
    • Simone Biles
    • Bonnie Blair
    • Bessie Coleman
    • Nadia Comaneci
    • Dominique Dawes
    • Anita DeFrantz
    • Amelia Earhart
    • Gertrude Ederle
    • Althea Gibson
    • Mia Hamm
    • Sonja Henie
    • Amy Johnson
    • Florence Griffith Joyner
    • Jackie Joyner-Kersee
    • Billie Jean King
    • Katie Ledecky
    • Lisa Leslie
    • Nancy Lieberman
    • Ellen MacArthur
    • Cheryl Miller
    • Jackie Mitchell
    • Martina Navratilova
    • Annie Smith Peck
    • Wilma Rudolph
    • Sacagawea
    • Annika Sorenstam
    • Freya Stark
    • Bessie Stringfield
    • Pat Summitt
    • Sheryl Swoopes
    • Valentina Tereshkova
    • Dara Torres
    • Lindsey Vonn
    • Serena Williams
    • Venus Williams
    • Lynette Woodard
    • "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
  • Performance Artists
    • Alicia Alonso
    • Marian Anderson
    • Josephine Baker
    • Lucille Ball
    • Misty Copeland
    • Dorothy Dandridge
    • Ellen DeGeneres
    • Katherine Dunham
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Evelyn Glennie
    • Martha Graham
    • Audrey Hepburn
    • Katharine Hepburn
    • Annie Oakley
    • Dolly Parton
    • Mary Pickford
    • Ma Rainey
    • Maria Tallchief
    • Sister Rosetta Tharpe
  • Picture Book Biographies
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Maya Angelou

April 4, 1928 - May 28, 2014
(St. Louis, MO - Winston-Salem, NC)

​"My mission in life is not merely to survive, but to thrive; and to do so with some passion, some compassion, some humor, and some style."

  • Iconic POET & AUTHOR
  • Born Marguerite Johnson
  • Married a white man, even though interracial marriage was illegal at the time
  • Studied dance with renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey, and traveled throughout Europe in a production of the opera Porgy and Bess
  • Noted for confronting race and gender head on, transforming these "limitations" into cause for celebration and pride
  • Wrote a series of autobiographies, using her own struggle against poverty, abuse, racism, and sexism to illuminate the challenges Black women face
  • Supported the civil rights movement by acting as the northern coordinator of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, and working with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. & Malcolm X
  • FIRST:
    • Black streetcar conductor in San Francisco 
    • Black woman director in Hollywood
    • Black woman to write a screenplay that was made into a movie
    • Woman AND first Black American to read her own work at a presidential inauguration
  • Awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2011
  • Also authored several volumes of poetry, theater & television scripts, children's books, and cookbooks
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Bibliography: Burling, Alexis. Women in Literature. North Mankato: Abdo Publishing, 2017. Print.
Braxton, Joanne M. and Courtney M. O'Reilly. "Angelou, Maya." The Oxford Encyclopedia of Women in World History, Vol. 1, Oxford University Press, 2008, 111.
Cavallo, Francesca and Elena Favilli. Good Night Stories for Rebel Girls: 100 Tales of Extraordinary Women. Canada: Timbuktu Labs, Inc., 2016. Print.
Shen, Ann. Bad Girls Throughout History: 100 Remarkable Women Who Changed the World. San Francisco: Chronicle Books, 2016. Print.

Support this organization dedicated to preserving her mission:

The Maya Angelou Center for Health Equity

Books by this Awesome Woman

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Biographies for Kids and Young Adults

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(picture book)
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Research

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Spread the word!

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Please note that while Awesome Women Library tries to include links only to media from reputable sources, we cannot attest to the quality or content of any media listed on this website. Our mission is to introduce you to these Awesome Women and give you a wide array of resources for learning more. We haven't read everything listed and are not a recommendation site, nor is this meant to be an exhaustive catalog of every book related to this woman -- there's just too much out there! Happy reading!!
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  • Home
  • What is an Awesome Woman?
  • Activists & Community Builders
    • Oyinkan Abayomi
    • Jane Addams
    • Fatima al-Fihri
    • Jessie Daniel Ames
    • Susan B. Anthony
    • Inessa Armand
    • Ella Baker
    • Nellie Bly
    • Lady Bird Johnson
    • Anne Carroll Moore
    • Rosa Parks
    • Alice Paul
    • Eleanor Roosevelt
    • Ghenia Avril de Sainte-Croix
    • Sophie Scholl
    • Doria Shafik
    • Elizabeth Cady Stanton
    • Sojourner Truth
    • Harriet Tubman
    • Ida B. Wells
    • Malala Yousafzai
  • Authors & Visual Artists
    • Etel Adnan
    • Ama Ata Aidoo
    • Anna Akhmatova
    • Louisa May Alcott
    • Isabel Allende
    • Maya Angelou
    • Sofonisba Anguissola
    • Jane Austen
    • Hildegard von Bingen
    • Mary Blair
    • Margaret Bourke-White
    • Gwendolyn Brooks
    • Octavia Butler
    • Julia Margaret Cameron
    • Judy Chicago
    • Sor Juana Ines de la Cruz
    • Marjory Stoneman Douglas
    • Artemisia Gentileschi
    • Maija Isola
    • Lois Mailou Jones
    • Frida Kahlo
    • Yayoi Kusama
    • Dorothea Lange
    • Edmonia Lewis
    • Julia Morgan
    • Toni Morrison
    • Marianne North
    • Sappho
    • Harriet Beecher Stowe
    • Elisabeth Vigee-Lebrun
  • Business Owners & Entrepreneurs
    • Mary Kay Ash
    • Olive Ann Beech
    • Polly Bemis
    • Marguerite Boucicaut
    • Juana Briones
    • Clara Brown
    • Nellie Cashman
    • Nicole-Barbe Clicquot
    • Ellen Demorest
    • Katharine Graham
    • Hetty Green
    • Isabella Greenway
    • Ruth Handler
    • Annie Turnbo Malone
    • Charley Parkhurst
    • Eliza Pinckney
    • Lydia Pinkham
    • Mary Ellen Pleasant
    • Muriel Siebert
    • Ruth Wakefield
    • Madam C J Walker
    • Maggie Lena Walker
    • Marie Webster
    • Oprah Winfrey
  • Civil Servants, World Leaders, & Warriors
    • Corazon Aquino
    • Queen Yaa Asantewaa
    • Mavis Batey
    • Empress Taytu Betul
    • Boudicca
    • Mary Bowser
    • Charlotte Hawkins Brown
    • Gro Harlem Brundtland
    • Empress Catherine II of Russia
    • Shirley Chisholm
    • Pharaoh Cleopatra VII
    • Sarah Emma Edmonds
    • Queen Elizabeth I of England
    • Ruth Bader Ginsburg
    • Noor Inayat Khan
    • Belva Lockwood
    • Sandra Day O'Connor
    • Trung Sisters
  • Computer Scientists & Mathematicians
    • Maria Agnesi
    • Jean Bartik
    • Kimberly Bryant
    • Annie Easley
    • Sophie Germain
    • Margaret Hamilton
    • Grace Hopper
    • Hypatia
    • Katherine Johnson
    • Sofya Kovalevskaya
    • Ada Lovelace
    • Maryam Mirzakhani
    • Emmy Noether
    • Ruchi Sanghvi
    • Dorothy Vaughan
  • Doctors, Nurses, & Medical Researchers
    • Virginia Apgar
    • Sara Josephine Baker
    • Alice Ball
    • Clara Barton
    • Patricia Bath
    • Elizabeth Blackwell
    • Louyse Bourgeoise Boursier
    • Rachel Brown
    • Mamie Phipps Clark
    • Gertrude Belle Elion
    • Marie Equi
    • Elizabeth Hazen
    • Dorothy Crowfoot Hodgkin
    • Mae Jemison
    • Anandibai Joshee
    • Florence Nightingale
    • Ogino Ginko
    • Mary Seacole
    • Rosalyn Yalow
  • Engineers, Inventors, & Scientists
    • Mary Anning
    • Marie d'Arconville
    • Hertha Ayrton
    • Florence Bascom
    • Laura Bassi
    • Katharine Burr Blodgett
    • Annie Jump Cannon
    • Rachel Carson
    • Emilie du Chatelet
    • Martha Coston
    • Marie Curie
    • Sylvia Earle
    • Dian Fossey
    • Rosalind Franklin
    • Lillian Gilbreth
    • Jane Goodall
    • Catharine Littlefield Greene
    • Mary Jackson
    • Shirley Ann Jackson
    • Margaret E. Knight
    • Stephanie Kwolek
    • Hedy Lamarr
    • Mary Leakey
    • Wangari Maathai
    • Lise Meitner
    • Maria Sibylla Merian
    • Ynes Mexia
    • Maria Mitchell
    • Mary Sherman Morgan
    • Ellen Ochoa
    • Sally Ride
    • Stephanie Schwabe
    • Donna Shirley
    • Kathryn Sullivan
    • Wang Zhenyi
    • Peggy Whitson
    • Wu Chien-Shiung
  • Exploration & Sports
    • Nicola Adams
    • Laila Ali
    • Ann Bancroft
    • Simone Biles
    • Bonnie Blair
    • Bessie Coleman
    • Nadia Comaneci
    • Dominique Dawes
    • Anita DeFrantz
    • Amelia Earhart
    • Gertrude Ederle
    • Althea Gibson
    • Mia Hamm
    • Sonja Henie
    • Amy Johnson
    • Florence Griffith Joyner
    • Jackie Joyner-Kersee
    • Billie Jean King
    • Katie Ledecky
    • Lisa Leslie
    • Nancy Lieberman
    • Ellen MacArthur
    • Cheryl Miller
    • Jackie Mitchell
    • Martina Navratilova
    • Annie Smith Peck
    • Wilma Rudolph
    • Sacagawea
    • Annika Sorenstam
    • Freya Stark
    • Bessie Stringfield
    • Pat Summitt
    • Sheryl Swoopes
    • Valentina Tereshkova
    • Dara Torres
    • Lindsey Vonn
    • Serena Williams
    • Venus Williams
    • Lynette Woodard
    • "Babe" Didrikson Zaharias
  • Performance Artists
    • Alicia Alonso
    • Marian Anderson
    • Josephine Baker
    • Lucille Ball
    • Misty Copeland
    • Dorothy Dandridge
    • Ellen DeGeneres
    • Katherine Dunham
    • Ella Fitzgerald
    • Evelyn Glennie
    • Martha Graham
    • Audrey Hepburn
    • Katharine Hepburn
    • Annie Oakley
    • Dolly Parton
    • Mary Pickford
    • Ma Rainey
    • Maria Tallchief
    • Sister Rosetta Tharpe
  • Picture Book Biographies
  • Bulletin Board
  • About the Library
  • Contact