Mom and Me and Mom

Mom and Me and Mom

by Dr Maya Angelou (Author)

Synopsis

'In the first decade of the twentiety century, it was not a good time to be born black, or woman, in America.'

So begins this stunning portrait of Vivian Baxter Johnson: the first black woman officer in the Merchant Marines, purveyor of a gambling business and rooming house, and mother to one of our most cherished literary treasures.

Anyone who's read the classic, I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings, knows Maya Angelou was raised by her paternal grandmother in Stamps, Arkansas. In Mom & Me & Mom, Angelou details what brought her mother to send her away and unearths the well of emotions Angelou experienced long afterward as a result. While Angelou's six autobiographies tell of her out in the world, influencing and learning from statesmen and cultural icons, Mom & Me & Mom shares the intimate, emotional story about her own family.

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More Information

Format: Hardcover
Pages: 208
Publisher: Virago
Published: 11 Apr 2013

ISBN 10: 1844089142
ISBN 13: 9781844089147
Book Overview: For the first time, Maya Angelou - one of America's most celebrated memoirists and poets, a living legend treasured by presidents, world leaders, entertainers, and book lovers of all ages - shares the deepest personal story of her life: the story of her relationship with her mother.

Media Reviews
Extraordinary . . . a jaw-dropper of a memoir -- Viv Groskop * Red *
A brilliant writer, a fierce friend and a truly phenomenal woman -- President Barack Obama
The poems and stories she wrote . . . were gifts of wisdom and wit, courage and grace -- President Bill Clinton
She moved through the world with unshakeable calm, confidence and a fierce grace . . . She will always be the rainbow in my clouds -- Oprah Winfrey
She was important in so many ways. She launched African American women writing in the United States. She was generous to a fault. She had nineteen talents - used ten. And was a real original. There is no duplicate -- Toni Morrison
Author Bio

Dr Maya Angelou was one of the world's most important writers and activists. Born 4 April 1928, she lived and chronicled an extraordinary life: rising from poverty, violence and racism, she became a renowned author, poet, playwright, civil rights' activist - working with Malcolm X and Martin Luther King - and memoirist. She wrote and performed a poem, 'On the Pulse of Morning', for President Clinton on his inauguration; she was given the Presidential Medal of Freedom by President Obama and was honoured by more than seventy universities throughout the world.

She first thrilled the world with I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings (1969). This was followed by six volumes of autobiography, the seventh and final volume, Mom & Me & Mom, published in 2013. She wrote three collections of essays; many volumes of poetry, including His Day is Done, a tribute to Nelson Mandela; and two cookbooks. She had a lifetime appointment as Reynolds Professor of American Studies at Wake Forest University of North Carolina. Dr Angelou died on 28 May 2014.