Maya Angelou
...re for Maya and she had started having nightmares and would at times get in bed with her mother and boyfriend. One Saturday when Maya and Mr. Freeman where alone he raped her; and this is truly when her nightmare began. Mr. Freeman was arrested and charged with her rape but when it was time for Maya to take the stand in the courtroom she could not tell the truth because she thought she would let her mother and brother down. So she lied and said “No he did not rape me”. That afternoon when he was released form jail he was found dead; and Maya blamed herself. She believed if she had told the truth he would not have been killed. It was at this time Maya decided she would no longer talk to anyone but Bailey. Not until she was sent back to Stamps Arkansas and met Mrs. Bertha Flowers did she end her four year vow of silence. Mrs. Flowers introduced her to the world of literature by supplying Maya with books she had to read out loud. That was the arrangement. This was her new found joy, she was well read; she would go to the library and read for hours. And at the golden age of thirteen she is sent to live with her mother in California; where she graduates high school, gets a scholarship to dance and becomes the first black cable car conductor, in San Fransisco. At the age of sixteen she began to question her sexuality and had sex with the boy from the neighborhood and became pregnant. She had a son named Clyde who’s nickname was Guy. And again her life turns from childhood to parenthood like so many of us today. At the age of nineteen Maya realizes she does not have any real skills but has a large responsibility and begins to run a whorehouse. In her mind she is “no longer the misplaced little girl, and was by contrast a quick witted businesswomen.” Of course this lifestyle does not last long because she gets into an argument with two of the prostitutes and she closes her “business”, out of fear they will expose her to the police and she will lose her son. During this time she takes on different types of legal employment; cooking at a restaurant and dancing at small dance clubs. None of which she was able to keep. Maya now has the notion that a man was the answer to her prayer of stability. She falls in love with a married man who was her father’s age, wore nice suits and had a lot of money. He deceives her in having her believe he lost all his money while out gambling and he was so distraught over this, because he was saving the money to divorce his wife and marry her. He made the suggestion to Maya to become a prostitute and payoff his debts and then he would be able to marry her. Maya did not like prostitution and with in one week became the least wanted prostitute on the streets. Again she is without a job and now without a “man”. Of course she now realizes that this is a scam. She never had a “man” but a pimp. Even after this she continues to try and make a life for herself and her son; and takes a job at a music store where she meets the new love of her life Tosh Angelos a white sailor when promises to take care of her and Guy. “My life began to resemble a Good Housekeeping advertisement.” But even he did not work out; he began to refuse Maya of her faith. She would have to sneak and attend different churches on Sunday morning so no one could remember her and go back and inform her husband. And after two and a half years of marriage she had began to notice the evil looks people from both races began giving them when in public. This was the end of a once good thing. Her life continues on to the life of dancing, singing and now writing music. Her first break came in 1953 when she gets a job at the Purple Onion nightclub in San Fransico. This is when she adopts the stage name Maya Angelou; because the drama coach at the night club felt Angelos (her married name) sounded too ethnic. The birth of her stage name also started a new beginning, starting the era of her many talents. She traveled the world with folk opera Porgy and Bess; where she was a singer named Ruby. Maya Started writing joined the Harlem Writers Guild; a group of writers who meet and critique each others work. She became a civil rights activist, raising money fo...